more than $600,000. These are now producing 

 farmers in the western prairies, and through the 

 efforts of the present summer more fine British 

 stock will come to join them, to swell Canada's 

 population and the tremendous volume of grain 

 of the western harvest fields. 



Utilizing Canada's Peat 



Canada's fuel problem is one of the most stressful in 

 the Dominion's national existence and was the first to 

 receive attention from the Council for Scientific and 

 Industrial Research upon its formation. Practically all 

 the coal used in Central Canada comes from the United 

 States and enormous sums of money are paid each year to 

 that country for the winter's supply. What would be the 

 effect upon the Canadian people and their industries 

 should this supply be cut off, even for a single winter, is 

 not pleasant contemplation, and naturally the question of 

 meeting, wholly or partially, from Canadian sources, this 

 demand for coal, in the central areas of Canada, has 

 occupied the best minds of the country. Investigation 

 has followed a double course the utilization of the peat 

 bogs of Canada and the briquetting of the low grade lignites 

 of south eastern Saskatchewan. 



In the vast central portions of Canada lying between 

 the largest coal-bearing areas is an extensive territory 

 where coal measures diminish and which is largely depend- 

 ant upon the United States for its coal supply. There are 

 estimated to be some 37,000 square miles of peat bogs in 

 the Dominion from five to ten feet deep, the greater supply 

 being in these coalless regions. In many of these areas it 

 was considered that the peat industry might advantageous- 

 ly be introduced, the peat being peculiarly suited for 

 manufacture into fuel for domestic and power purposes 

 and conveniently situated as regards transportation facili- 

 ties and contiguous adjacent industrial communities. 



Formation of a Peat Committee 



The manufacture of peat in certain areas had been 

 carried out in a spasmodic and desultory manner for a 

 number of years and in the main had not proved satisfac- 

 tory. An investigation by the Dominion Mines Branch 

 determined that this was due to lack of knowledge on the 

 part of operators of the nature of the commodity they 

 were handling. In 1918 the whole question was placed 

 in the hands of a Peat Committee, consisting of four 

 members, who conducted investigations into the peat bogs 

 of the Dominion with a view to establishing their utility 

 as a source of fuel. Both on account of the greater need 

 of the industrial area about it, and to the favorable nature 

 of the deposits, and the additional fact that the Ontario 

 government had preliminary investigations already under 

 way in that area, attention became concentrated on the 

 peat bogs of Alfred, in Prescott County, Ontario. 



A good deal of work with some elementary machinery 

 had been already done on these bogs when the Peat Com- 

 mittee of the government turned their attention to them. 

 Shipping of peat was on the verge of inauguration in 1914 

 when the outbreak of the war disorganized markets and 

 traffic and set back development. When the Peat Commit- 

 tee took over, the process of air drying was immediately 

 adopted as the most efficient and practicable and the 

 problem confronting them resolved itself into a purely 

 mechanical one which they directed their efforts towards 

 solving. 



A New Machine Designed 



The fact that they had this problem to solve and that 

 all their efforts were directed along the line of experimenta- 

 tion and investigation must be borne in mind. The fact 

 that fluel could be manufactured from these peat bogs had 

 already been established; their problem was to devise a 

 system of manufacture which would permit the finished 



product to compete with the imported hard coal. Work- 

 ing with the old plant in 1919, about 3,000 tons of peat fuel 

 were produced and found a ready market. 



During 1919 a new machine was designed upon the basis 

 of the one in operation and the two operated in competition 

 throughout 1920, accounting for a combined production 

 in that year of 5.500 tons. 



There was a remarkable demand for the product, 

 inquiries coming from New Brunswick and Quebec points. 

 The bulk of the output was consumed by Ottawa, Chatham 

 and Pevera in Ontario, smaller supplies going to Kitchener, 

 Ontario and Joliette and Three Rivers, Quebec. A close 

 study was made throughout the year of the two machines 

 in operation and the conclusion arrived at that neither 

 was the most efficient possible, and accordingly a new 

 machine was designed combining the best points of each 

 of the other two. 



The year 1921 was occupied largely with the construc- 

 tion of the combination plant so that this year was to a 

 great extent one of continued experimentation and a 

 development along other lines than production. In 

 order to keep up a certain proportion of the output, one 

 of the condemned plants was continued in operation and 

 in 1921 a total of 3,889 tons were produced. Of this 

 1,500 tons were shipped to the markets which had already 

 been developed and which the previous year could have 

 absorbed ten times the production. An unfortunate fire 

 of unknown origin consumed practically the entire 

 remainder of the output and put an end to shipping for 

 that year. 



A Plant Finally Perfected 



The year was a momentous one however, in demon- 

 strating the commercial value of the plant which had been 

 constructed to combine the best qualities of the two 

 previously operated and coming up to the most sanguine 

 expectations of the engineers who designed it. This year, 

 with the exception of a few minor details, which are expec- 

 ted to occupy a short time in the beginning of the period 

 of operation, the plant is perfected and is expected to 

 operate the full season doubling at the very least, the 

 production of the year 1921. The machine has a capacity 

 of ten tons per hour and is expected to maintain an output 

 of one hundred tons per day of ten hours. Last season the 

 manufactured fuel was put on the cars at Alfred at a price 

 of $5 per ton and it is assured that this cost of production 

 can be maintained whilst there is a possibility of shaving 

 it this year. 



Another excellent feature of achievment in the year 

 1921 has been the development of a small machine which 

 can be operated by three men and will average a production 

 of about two tons per hour. The machine, which has 

 been perfected in operation, has been devised for use on 

 small bogs, to be used by communities of farmers on such 

 areas, or even to finish up the work on larger deposits. It 

 is pointed out that whilst Ireland is the principal peat 

 producing country of the world none of her deposits are 

 extensive and that her annual production which runs 

 into the millions of tons, is the result of work of numerous 

 small areas. 



The Outlook for 1922 



The year 1922 will be the first actual peat producing 

 year with machinery which is considered eminently 

 satisfactory for commercial production and thus the real 

 work of the Feat Committee has been completed. The 

 efforts of the past few years have all been experimental and 

 demonstrative, directed towards the developing of a 

 commercially producing machine. The present machine 

 it is considered, produces as economically as is possible 

 and the matter of competition with coal at points distant 

 from the bogs, is largely a matter of extraneous factors. 



There would appear to be little doubt but that as a 

 result of the activities and demonstrations of the Peat 

 Committee, a peat industry will shortly be estabjished in 

 Canada and the coal importation situation alleviated by 

 this means to at least some small extent. Results from 

 the burning of the Alfred peat fuel have been excellent, 



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