PEAT 



4545 



PECAN 



first stage of coal. Deposits near the surface are 

 usually brown; those farther down are black, 

 as they are more nearly decomposed. The lat- 

 ter form of peat looks like wet, black clay. In 

 the northern hemisphere the vegetation of the 

 peat bogs consists chiefly of mosses, but rushes 

 and similar aquatic plants formed the deposits 

 of the southern hemisphere. It is supposed that 

 peat forms at the rate of two to four inches a 



Distribution. In Europe there are large peat 

 areas in Russia, Norway, Sweden, France, Ger- 

 many, Austria, Denmark, Holland and the Brit- 

 ish Isles, especially Ireland. In America the 

 most important areas are in Alaska, Canada and 

 the United States. Canada is estimated to have 

 37,000 square miles of workable bogs, the de- 



A PEAT BOO 



The Illustration shows how peat Is cut ; the ap- 

 pearance of the field is the same, whether the 

 cutting is by hand or by machinery. In the back- 

 ground is shown a pile of peat blocks, ready for 

 drying. 



posits of which are about five feet deep. Alaska 

 peat is an exceptionally good fuel. A recent 

 survey of the peat areas of the United States 

 shows that the deposits represent an aggregate 

 of nearly thirteen billion tons. Deposits are of 

 frequent occurrence in the states of the Atlantic 

 Coastal Plain from New Jersey to Florida, and 

 in th- northern tier as far west as North Da- 

 kota. The regions mentioned in this paragraph 



chief peat-forming areas of the world. 

 Uses. To make peat a suitable fuel it must 

 be drained of its water content. which is some- 

 times nine-tenths of the weight. The expense 

 and difficulty attending this process have 

 tendril to limit its production in America 

 I'.urope. ; peat is burned in the homes 



of thousands of peasants, and there it has been 

 a common domestic fuel for centuries. Various 

 machines have been made for digging and K 

 ing the raw material, molding it into blocks of 



desired size, and spreading these out to dry in 

 the air. Tests are also being made to discover 

 the practicability of using powdered peat as 

 fuel. In the United States there were four 

 peat-fuel plants in operation at the outbreak 

 of the War of the Nations, and ten which were 

 selling peat for fertilizing purposes. It is ap- 

 parent that the American peat industry is as 

 yet only in the experimental stage. In Canada 

 the Dominion government maintains an experi- 

 ment station where peat is prepared for fuel, 

 and it is hoped that the deposits of the coun- 

 try will some day be utilized on a large com- 

 mercial scale. Two Canadian peat-fuel facto- 

 ries closed in 1914 because of unfavorable con- 

 ditions resulting from the great war. 



There are various other ways in which this 

 product is utilized. Brown peat, which is linht 

 and a good absorbent, is made into an excellent 

 bedding for horses and cattle, and dried, pow- 

 dered peat mixed with crude molasses is a stock 

 food much used in Europe. Black peat, in 

 which there is considerable nitrogen, is used as 

 a fertilizer or as a filler for chemical fertilizers. 

 This is the chief use to which peat is put in 

 the United States. The fibers obtained from 

 shredding peat prepared for stable litter are 

 now being utilized in making paper, and as 

 stuffing for upholstered furniture and mat- 

 -es. Charcoal obtained from compressed 

 peat is highly valued as a fuel in iron smelt- 

 ing. Recently peat baths have been tried in 

 a few sanitariums of the United States, with 

 encouraging results. Such baths have long 

 been in favor at German health resorts. B.C. 



Consult Davis's "The Uses of Peat." in the 

 T'nlted States Department of the Interior, Bureau 

 of Mines, Itnlletin 16; Gissing's Commercial Peat. 



PECAN, pekan', or pckahn', a North 

 American tree of the hickory family, which 

 bears rounded, oblong nuts that find a ready 

 market. Thin-shelled. varieties are in greatest 

 favor, as the shells can be conveniently crushed 

 between the fingers; the sweet, nutritious 

 meats, too, are easily taken out. The pecan 

 tree is native to the states along the Missis- 

 sippi, from Iowa southward. lut it i- n<>\\ cul- 

 tivated in all the Sot it horn states and in 

 California. In the South, especially, the rais- 

 ing of pecans is a thriving and rapidly grow- 

 ing industry, and in that . r 100,000 

 acres are planted to the tree. The owner of a 

 pecan orchard, however, must be content to 

 wait for returns. Though trees begin to bear 

 when five or six years old, no profits can be 

 expected before the end of ten years, and for 



