332 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



substitute for either, and adding immensely to the natural 

 resources of the State. We are a manufacturing people, and 

 cheap steam-power is one of the most important elements of the 

 growth and prosperity of our industrial communities. To feed 

 the iron horse, our forests have been cut away to such an extent 

 that the price of wood, notwithstanding our large importations 

 of coal, has doubled during the last twelve years. And coal 

 can only be supplied to the towns in the interior at a cost for 

 freight which so enhances its price as to make its use a burden- 

 some tax upon all who rely upon steam-power to drive their 

 machinery. Now it so happens that there is scarcely a manu- 

 facturing community in the Commonwealth where peat of good 

 quality is not found in the immediate neighborhood, sufficient 

 to supply the wants of the people for many years. In some 

 localities, centuries would not exhaust the supply, and this too, 

 of a fuel which is especially adapted for the production of steam- 

 power, either in stationary or locomotive engines as we shall 

 proceed to show by the recital of well established facts, derived 

 from our own knowledge and from various authentic sources. 



In 1856, trials were made upon the Worcester and Nashua 

 Railroad, with common hand-made peat. A freight train con- 

 sisting of thirteen heavily loaded cars was driven from Worces- 

 ter to Groton Junction at a rate of speed that was entirely 

 satisfactory, and with so small a consumption of fuel as to 

 demonstrate that in economy of expense it had a decided advan- 

 tage over wood. No change was made in the fire-box of the 

 engine, and no difficulty whatever was experienced in its use. 

 The steam-gauge through the whole trip indicated a pressure of 

 nearly a hundred pounds to the square inch, which was better 

 than the average attained by the engine used, even with wood 

 of the best quality. 



Another trial of crude peat, sun-dried and without condensa- 

 tion, was made upon the New York Central Railroad January 

 3, 1866, and is thus reported by the master mechanic who had 

 the experiment in charge : — 



" Trial of peat made January 3, 186(>. Engine No. 248, built 

 at Schenectady Locomotive Works. — Left Syracuse at 8 o'clock 

 and 40 minutes, (40 minutes behind time,) with 25 empty 8- 

 wheel box freight cars. Started with 120 pounds steam ; the 



