452 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



lionaire with so much additional rock in reserve. So desirable is 

 the rock for porcelain, cement, white mortar, concrete and filtration 

 purposes that there is a demand for it both in this country and in 

 Europe. Numbers of men are now at work quarrying it, and soon 

 there will be plants erected for pulverization, it may be that within 

 a year between 200 and 300 men will be regularly employed for min- 

 ing and preparing this extraordinary material for market. I take 

 pleasure in submitting to you average samples of the rock from a 

 farm of Pennsylvania, considered six months ago about one of the 

 poorest farms of the State, and now perhaps the richest. 



POTASH. 



A careful study of the areal and economic geology of Pennsylvania 

 has led to the conclusion that potash exists in largest quantities 

 in soils at the base of timber-covered hills and mountains where 

 there has been an annual washing down and settling at the base of 

 the decaying and decayed material from above Decomposed leaves 

 and wood of trees, and the remains of vegetable growth, all are un- 

 usually rich in potash, and an accumulation of these constituents 

 supplies the soil with a comparatively large percentage of that 

 element (potassium) so necessary to some species of plant life, es- 

 pecially potatoes. 



PEAT. 



Some of our sister states have taken up the subject of peat for 

 fuel with decided vigor. Conspicuous in the list are Massachusetts, 

 Michigan, New York and Wisconsin. In the Dominion of Canada 

 peat is commanding the attention of men of large capital. Large 

 peat beds are now known to exist in Butler, Dauphin, Erie, Frank- 

 lin, Lackawanna, Lawrence and other counties of our Common- 

 wealth. As has been wisely said by Dr. L. A. Stillings, in the No- 

 vember number of the "Electrochemical and Metallurgical Industry." 

 the great value of peat fuel is unknown to the average person in 

 the United States. We do not yet appreciate the vast resources 

 offered all over the country for a cheap, clean fuel. When we find 

 that the United States has more than 100 times the acreage of peat 

 to that of all Europe, and that Europe has been to a great extent 

 dependent upon peat as a fuel for many years, and, at that, only 

 used up a small portion of its peat bogs, we can see the immense 

 future of such a fuel in this countrv, either in connection with steam 

 or gas power plants. 



The cost of fuel is governed by its heat and waste. The use of 

 both coal and wood is very wasteful, only a comparatively small part 

 of the heat units being utilized. With coal the clinkers, with wood 

 the live embers which drop through the grate, are an additional 

 source of loss. When briquetted peat is first placed on the grate it 

 burns with a short, blue flame, which gradually becomes a yellow- 

 ish glow. It emits an intense heat, which is easily controlled by 

 draughts. A peat fire will burn until exhausted, and is nearly 

 smokeless and ashless. The smoke of peat, unlike other fuels, is 

 good for the lungs, and serves as an excellent deodorizer. 



The approximate percentage composition of peat is: 16.4 per cent, 

 water; 41.0 per cent, carbon; 4.32 per cent, hydrogen; 23.08 per cent. 



