HARVESTING THE PEAT. 739 



dried on the drying-ground and for this purpose may be placed 

 in circular rings of 5 or 6 turves on the ground, over which 4, 6 

 or 8 rings are placed, the space between two turves in a lower 

 ring being covered by a turf in the ring above it. 



When the turves are thoroughly dried — for which 4, G or 10 

 weeks are required, according to the weather, mode of drying and 

 quality of the peat — if they are to be at once sold and removed, 

 they are piled in the usual rectangular or conical sale-stacks, 

 each containing 1,000 turves, or else in stacks similar to those 

 used for fire-wood. 



ii. Drying under Cover. 



Sheds for drying turves are similar to those used for bricks, 

 being very long and narrow and formed of laths which are 

 covered with a light roof and in which the turves are stacked one 

 above the other. These sheds offer the great advantage that 

 the drying process is independent of the weather, but they are 

 too expensive for general use. 



Drying is, however, much more rapidly and thoroughly 

 conducted in sheds, than in the open air, observations at 

 Waidmoos having shown that in four weeks turves thus dried 

 lost about 20% more moisture than in the open. 



iii. Shrinkage. 



From 70 to 90% of the weight of freshly cut turves is water ; 

 most of this is lost in drying, but air- dried turves still contain 

 26 — 30% of water. In passing to the air-dried condition, turves 

 shrink considerably, the more so the better their quality. 



Some peats lose 70 — 75% of their volume by shrinkage, so 

 that a volume of 100 cubic feet of wet peat becomes only 25 to 30 

 cubic feet when dried. Fibrous peat on the other hand does not 

 shrink much, but loses much more in weight than good peat, 

 weighing frequently only one-fifth, or even less, of its weight when 

 freshly cut. 



(d) Storage of turves. — The turves cannot always be at once 

 sold and removed, but must sometimes be stored through the 

 winter. This is done either in the open, or in covered stacks. 



3 B 2 



