HARVESTING THE PEAT. 807 



strips, as a separate labour force is not then required for 

 removing the turves to the drying-ground ; this method is 

 also especially applicable when the bog is wet or insufficiently 

 drained, also when it is superficial and can be cut in one 

 operation. It has, however, the disadvantage that the turves 

 are all from the same level and is not advisable for deep bogs. 



v. Obstacles to Culling. 



Besides the water, which may prevent the cutting going 

 down to the bed of the bog, various foreign bodies are im- 

 bedded in the peat, forming so many obstacles to the digging ; 

 among these are stones, beds of sand or marl, roots and stems 

 of trees, etc. Stones are frequently found in morasses and 

 fens; besides interrupting the cutting they injure the imple- 

 ments. Layers' of sand and marl often cause temporary 

 flooding and must be cut through to let the water pass. 

 Imbedded roots and stumps of trees are often serious obstacles 

 in high peat- bogs. When these are stumps of resinous 

 conifers, they are usually quite undecomposed* and must be 

 removed completely. Large quantities of peat are sometimes 

 wasted owing to the presence of stumps and long side-roots. 

 Superficial roots of birch, alders, etc., in the upper layers of a 

 bog are not so prejudicial, as they are generally rotten and 

 can be severed with a spade. 



Machines have recently been constructed, to replace manual 

 labour in cutting turves ; one invented by Browowsky t is used 

 in North Germany, and cuts turves 3 to 6 yards long and 

 2 X 2| feet in section, even from undrained bogs. These 

 large turves are then cut into smaller sizes by manual labour. 



(c) Drying the Turves. 



As much care should be taken in drying as in digging 

 turves, for their value as fuel depends greatly on the thorough- 

 ness with which they are dried. The air dries the interior oi 



* In the Laiulstuhl 'bog, near Kaiserslautern, there are three layers of Scots 

 pine-stamps separated by peat, that yield annually 28,000 cubic feet of slump- 

 wood. They arc converted into tar. 



\ Hanseling. " Indust. Torfgewinnung," p. 25. 



