808 DIGGING AND PREPARATION OF PEAT. 



turves better than solar heat, which quickly hardens their 

 surface but leaves them still wet internally. Turves may be 

 dried either out of doors, or under cover. 



i. Drying Turves out of Doors. 



The drying-ground is either on the bog itself, or on an 

 adjoining plot when the latter is too wet ; as already stated, it 

 should be prepared before digging the peat. The turves are 

 stacked in various ways, according to the space available for 



Fig. 394. Fig. 395. 



Methods of piling turves. 



drying them, their comparative wetness and rate of drying, 

 and the available labour-force ; in order to dry them properly, 

 however, they should always be turned over several times. 



As soon as they are cut, the turves are removed usually by 

 the workmen, either in wheelbarrows, or by the men forming 

 a chain and passing them from hand to hand. They are then 

 placed singly and on their edge, like bricks, at short intervals, 

 or piled in little stacks of five turves each (Fig. 394) ; or as 

 in Fig. 395 round a stake, up to a height of 3 to 4J feet, a 

 method usual in Swabia and around Lake Constance ; or, as 

 in some parts of Austria, stakes are driven into the ground 

 with 9 or 10 pointed transverse sticks attached crosswise to 

 their ends, on which the turves are impaled. After a pre- 

 liminary drying, the turves are turned over once or several 



