MANUFACTURED PEAT. 813 



turves, preparing 1,000 to 1,500 turves in a day. As, more- 

 over, the peat-pulp passes again through the workman's hand, 

 and all foreign matter can thus be removed, the turves in that 

 case are more uniform and free from extraneous matter, and 

 as the peat is not poured but pressed into the mould, the 

 turves are denser than in the former method. 



(c) Drying Moulded Turves. Moulded turves must be 

 dried more gradually and carefully than those that are cut 

 directly from the bog. When peat-pulp is cut, the turves are 

 left to dry for a few days, and then turned on to their narrow 

 sides ; then they are piled generally in superposed rings (as 

 described above, p. 808). They must be turned again once or 

 twice, according to the state of the weather and are stacked 

 when completely dried. Moulded turves generally dry more 

 quickly than cut turves, especially when they are moulded 

 like bricks and dried like ordinary turves. 



AY hen the peat is very watery and moulds of several com- 

 partments used, it is better, after the preliminary drying on 

 the ground (which is not required for brick-moulded turves) to 

 place the turves under cover, as they cannot withstand pro- 

 longed rain. Turves made in multiple moulds may be 

 destroyed entirely by rain, so that this method can be adopted 

 only in fine weather. 



(d) Quality. Moulded turves afford a better fuel generally 

 than cut turves, in ratios of 5 : 3 or 5 : 4. This is due to 

 their greater homogeneity, the removal of extraneous matter, 

 greater density and the use of amorphous peat, which is often 

 wasted when the turves are cut from the bog. 



3. Manufactured Peat.* 



Manufactured peat is so prepared as to be capable of 

 competing with other fuels in the market. 



Turves cut from bogs or moulded by hand will not bear 

 distant transport, firstly, on account of their large volume 

 compared with their value as fuel, and secondly, on account 

 of their brittleness and property of absorbing much moisture 



* An interesting account of peat manufactured at Schussenried in Wurtem- 

 berg, is jriven in " IJaur's Centralblatt," 1881, p. 88. 



