OF CENTRAL CANADA PART II. 145 



114. Peat . This substance is simply vegetable matter consist- 

 jag chiefly of semi-aquatic mosses in a peculiar state of decomposi- 

 tion. It presents in its more typical form, a brown or blackish- 

 brown colour, with an earthy, or, in places, a sub-slaty or sub-fibrous, 

 texture. Sp. gr. 0.33 1.0 l 1 s 1 ]< . burning with a plea- 



sant odour and yellow flame. Composition, essentially carbon, hydro- 

 gen, oxygen, and a large amount of water (in dried peat, normally 

 from 15 to 25 per cent.) with from 2 or 3 to 10 or 12 per cent, 

 of mineral matter or ash. This valuable fuel, occurs in large 

 beds of more or less modern origin, in various parts of Ontario and 

 Quebec, mostly overlying deposits of shell-marl. The principal lo- 

 calities lie within the townships of Humberstone and Wainfleet on 

 Lake Erie ; Sheffield in Addington County ; Backwith, Huntly, Goul- 

 bourne, Westmeath, Nepean, Gloucester, Cumberland, Clarence, 

 Plantagenet, Roxborough, Osnabruck, and Finch, between the west 

 bank of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence ; Grenville, Harrington, 

 Miile-Isles, and adjacent localities on the east side of the Ottawa ; 

 the Seigniories of Assumption, St. Sulpice, Lavaltrie, and Lanoraie, 

 on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, above Lake St. Peter ; St. 

 Etienne, Champlain, and other places between the St. Maurice and 

 Quebec ; Sherrington, Hemmingford, Longueuil, Ste. Marie de Mon- 

 noir, Ste. Roselie, and other localities on the south shore of the St. 

 Lawrence ; the Seigniories of Riviere Ouelle and Riviere du Loup, 

 farther east : near the Migfcis, Rimouski, and Madaswaka Rivers, in 

 Gaspe ; and largely in the Island of Anticosti. Peat in a properly 

 dried and compressed condition, has been shown of late years to form 

 a good fuel for the use of locomotives, and also for many metallur- 

 gical operations. 

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