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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New Eni^land Farmer. 



PEAT AND COAL. 



Mr. Editor: — It would si-em from the accounts 

 of geologists, that we are indebted to vegetation 

 for a considerable proportion of the materials now 

 used for tire. In the peat bogs -of Scotland and 

 Ireland, the remains of large trees are very abund- 

 ant; they must have originally fallen with age, and 

 by darning streams rendered the soil unfit for the 

 support of vegetation, so that large forests iell and 

 were buried untler the gradual accumulation of veg- 

 stable matter. When the levels of Hatfield Chase 

 were drained, vast numbers of trees of all kinds 

 were found buried under the soil, which were over- 

 thrown probably by the Romans in order to drive 

 out the natives who had taken shelter among them. 

 In the masses of peat of Scotland, the pines which 

 have been buried for ages, embalmed in their tur- 

 pentine, still retain their freshness. Similar re- 

 mains are found in various parts of England and the 

 United States. 



I have a peat bog situated near the Ashuelot 

 River, in this town, where in e.xcavating peat for the 

 compost heap I have often found whole trees of 

 various kinds, embedded in the soil to the depth of 

 ten or twelve feet, together with all their natural 

 appendages, in a perfect state of preservation. On 

 this bog are seen the indisputable marks of succes- 

 sive formations; the oak and the hazle are found in 

 the lowest stratum, and in some parts where at the 

 present day the oak is very small if indeed it grows 

 at all, they are found of large dimensions. This 

 stratum of peat is, I think, little inferior to coal. 

 In tiie second stratum there is a much greater va- 

 riety of wood, but the birch and ash are the prevail- 

 ing kinds, and in the third stratum the greater por- 

 tion is alder. 



Though peat is but little valued in this vicinity 

 where wood is abundant, for the purposes of fuel, 

 yet there are many sections of the country where 

 it is important, and we find in countries where wood 

 has been wasted, so that now it is almost gone, 

 and where the transportation of coal would be ex- 

 pensive, as well as difficult, these remains of an- 

 cient forests have been kept, by the arrangement of 

 Providence, as "buried treasure," within the reach 

 of man's wants, but safe from his devastations. 



Many of your readers know, I presume, that coal, 

 with the exception of anthracite, is of vegetable 

 origin. Geologists, however, are not agreed on 

 this subject; but in some formations there are ev- 

 ident remains of vegetable matter, and many be- 

 lieve they can trace the successive changes from 

 bithuminated wood to coal. De Sac and others be- 

 lieve that the coal formations are the peat bogs of 

 the ancient world, which had become inundated 

 with sea water. The fossil peat, he says, diifers 

 only from coal in not having been mineralized and 

 not having ferruginous masses in the strata above it, 

 and it is believed that the same action of water 

 which changes vegetable matter into peat can in 

 due time produce the further change to bitumen, 

 and that the whole process can be traced from veg- 

 etable peat; peat to lignite, and lignite to coal. — 

 Thus it appears that a considerable proportion of 

 mankind are making use of the remains of earlier 

 vegetation, for fuel which has been preserved for 

 their benefit, by the liberality of nature. 



In regard to the manner in which peat is convert- 

 ed into charcoal, 1 am not acquainted, but have of- 

 ten burned large stacks of peat in the same manner 



wood is burned for that purpose, but without any 

 such result; a hard, cinder-like substance is always 

 formed, which I have found exceedingly rich in fer- 

 tilizing matter, and which I have often applied in a 

 liquid form to growing crops with good success, 

 increasing their growth and productiveness, in 

 many cases more than one-half, and in all to a con- 

 siderable degree. I have applied the liquid to al- 

 most every variety of crop usually raised by farm- 

 ers in this vicinity, and under every variety of cir- 

 cumstances, and always with satisfactory results. 



My metliod of preparing calcined peat is by dis- 

 solving half a bushel in half a hogshead of water, 

 first pulverising the peat, then stirring the mixture 

 often for several hours; after remaining two or 

 three days, a very dark colored solution is formed, 

 and ready to be applied in watering any plant or 

 tree. Care should be taken that the mixture be not 

 allowed to stand too long, as sulphurated hydrogen 

 is formed, which greatly injures the mixture as 

 well as rendering it very oflensive; this I suppose 

 arises from the decomposition of the sulphates in 

 the water and ashes by the vegetable matter; some 

 unburned peat and wood ashes are necessarily con- 

 tained in the mixture of peat and water, and suffi- 

 cient to produce that well-known odor common to 

 bad eggs, if allowed to stand for a week or ten 

 days in warm weather. 



Keenc, N. H., March, 1851. 



H. Blake. 



Remarks. — Our correspondent's article is on a 

 subject of great importance to farm.ers, and we are 

 pleased with his interesting remarks upon it. We 

 shall be pleased to hear more from him showing the 

 result from his practical application of this valua- 

 ble fertilizer, which is so abundant in many sec- 

 tions of New England. We should also be happy 

 in hearing from him on any other agricultural sub- 

 ject. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 RENOVATING OLD ORCHARDS. 



Friend Cole: — Evelyn upon Renovating Old Or- 

 chards is well worthy a careful perusal. Millions 

 of old trees in New England are now "cumberers 

 of the ground." Shall "we dig about and dung theni, 

 or cut them down?" is the question. Dig about 

 them, brother farmers; you are morally bound to 

 do so. The old apple tree shaded you in childhood, 

 the zephyrs of lovely June and mellow autumn 

 were perfumed by it for your pleasure; first its 

 fiowers, then its rich fruit pleased your olfactories 

 and your eye and palate; the sweet songster war- 

 bled from its boughs, it filled the big pitcher, the 

 fruit dish, the apple dumplin, the rich pie, pre- 

 serves and sauces; if you had one spark of poetic fire 

 you would have long since sung of its beneficence. 

 It's a superior theme to "Old Straw-hat," "Arm- 

 chair" or "Oaken-bucket." The old tree has fed 

 your fathers, perhaps your grand-fathers, and it 

 will you and your children, if you will not indo- 

 lently kill it by famine. The old apple tree re- 

 minds us of the loved ones that are gone, that with 

 us walked beneath its shade, or shared its bounties 

 by our fireside. 



I cannot, I will not, cut down the old venerable 

 trees planted by my fathers till I first try to reno- 

 vate them; feed them as they have fed me; this is 

 but evenhanded justice. Will it pay? asks one. 



