430 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [DeC. 



wliere it is found not to absorb water, and is dried by being spread 

 out over iron plates warmed by tlie waste steam from the compress- 

 ing engine. In tliis way, according to Mr. Hodgson, the peat 

 standing in the bog in the morning may be harrowed and scraped, 

 brought in, dried, compressed, and converted into an excellent fuel 

 before night. He employs for its compression, an engine patented 

 by himself; which he describes as a horizontal reciprocating ram, 

 working in a cylinder five feet long, with a uniform bore. The 

 powdered peat falls into this as the ram draws back at each stroke, 

 and, soon filling the whole length, considerable friction takes place 

 against the sides of the tube. This becomes so great that as each 

 charge falls in, it is completely consolidated between the advancing 

 ram and the column of peat in the tube, before the frictional 

 resistance of the column is overcome, and the whole mass moves 

 on ; so that the blocks formed at the one end are successively dis- 

 charged at the other, at the rate of sixty a minute ; making in an 

 hour about fifteen hundred-weight of compressed peat, equal in 

 density to coal. This apparatus is now in operation at Derrylea, 

 near Monasterevan ; and it is said by the inventor to leave no 

 doubt of the practicability of producing dry compressed peat on a 

 large scale, and with profit. 



Peat is not only an economical fuel for domestic use, but is in 

 many countries employed for generating steam, and for the manu- 

 facture of iron. For the latter purpose, it is used in Sweden, 

 France, and in many parts of Germany, where the supplies of 

 znineral coal are not abundant. It is particularly well fitted for 

 producing steam, and compressed peat has now for several years 

 been used in locomotive engines in Bavaria ; but we are told that 

 before this application was successful, many difficulties had to be 

 surmounted. Several years ago, according to Sir Kobert Kane, it 

 was in general use upon the steamers on the river Shannon in 

 Ireland. 



In a paper communicated to the Society of Arts in London in 

 November, 1862, Dr. B. H. Paul — whose experiments on the dis- 

 tillation of peat are described further on — has given some interest- 

 ing conclusions as to the relative value of peat and coal as fuel. 

 According to him, while the calorific or heat-giving power of car- 

 bon is represented as 1000, that of the various mineral coals is 

 equal to from 903 to 906 ; while that of perfectly dried peat, as 

 deduced from its average composition, will be 660. But as ordi- 

 nary air-dried peat contains about one fourth its weight of water, 



