338 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and Russia iron." It is not at all unlikely that the superior 

 quality of the iron and steel wires manufactured by Messrs. 

 Washburn & Moen, of Worcester, is in a great measure attribu- 

 table to the use which they make of peat, instead of coal in its 

 preparation ; their consumption of this kind of fuel amounting 

 on the average to two thousand tons a year. 



The difficulty of condensing peat so that it will " stand the 

 blast," having, after so many experiments, covering a period of 

 half a century, been at last overcome, its introduction has been 

 quite rapid in those countries where peat abounds, and it is now 

 used on a large scale for the working of iron in England, France, 

 Bavaria, Italy, Hungary, Bohemia and other countries. Exper- 

 iments made in England last year, of which we have reports, 

 convinced some of the most scientific minds of the following : 

 " That it is also equal if not superior to the best charcoal for 

 smelting iron-ore ; and its value for puddling has been demon- 

 strated with equal certainty. At Konigsbron peat is used for 

 puddling and refining pig-metal to make the finest German cast- 

 ings, which formerly required the best charcoal." This peat is 

 not condensed by machinery, but is kiln-dried before using, in 

 order to evaporate all the moisture. * 



We trust that enough has been said in the foregoing pages 

 upon this newly developed branch of industry, to induce the 

 farmers, manufacturers and capitalists of Massachusetts, to look 

 carefully into the question of fuel supply which has so important 

 a relation to the productive capacity of the State, and consider 

 what may best be done to utilize the immense storehouses of 

 peat that abound in almost every locality, and which need only 

 the hand of intelligent labor, in combination with modern 

 machinery and capital, to make them available as a permanent 

 source of profit and convenience. 



There would seem to be little need of sending so often to 

 Pictou, Maryland and Pennsylvania, for our supplies of fuel, 

 when we have at home a substitute for their coals which can be 

 delivered at our own doors, at an average, as is claimed by the 

 manufacturers, of one-half the bare cost of transportation of our 

 supplies from those localities. We have a great home market 

 for fuel, and we shall only follow one of the plainest principles 

 of political economy if we turn our attention to supplying that 



