MASSACHUSETTS PEAT LANDS 43 



others. This Hst is not a large one, but that is mainly due to the 

 fact that carefully conducted field trials to serve as practical 

 demonstrations are quite essential in a state with peat lands differ- 

 ing in field conditions. Detailed investigations on crops with 

 qualities of resistance, of rapidity in growth and maturity, capacity 

 to yield suitable variations and related to specific peat materials 

 and field conditions are still lacking from which to obtain reliable 

 information. No less important is the greater utilization of 

 peat lands for certain ornamental trees and shrubs and for much 

 of the nursery stock and also for many bulb plants which are now 

 imported from other countries with the dangers of disease infection. 

 The peat lands of Massachusetts certainly compare favorably 

 with those which have been so successfully utilized in Sweden, 

 Holland, Germany, and other countries of northern Europe. 



The use of peat materials for industrial purposes is constantly 

 increasing; their place and role as stock food ingredient; their 

 value as fertilizer dilutent or filler both with and without previous 

 treatment or mixture with inorganic salts; their effectiveness as 

 a carrier of bacterial inoculations; as fiber for surgical dressings, 

 for special grades of paper, for carpets or for packing material ; their 

 value as granular, compressed or powdered peat; in the manu- 

 facture of producer gas and heating devices; the use of sapropel 

 and cricoid materials for the distillation of tar and related products, 

 for purposes of extraction of crude oil, ammonium sulfate, paraffin, 

 wax or fuel gases; their effectiveness for hygienic and sanitary pur- 

 poses such as peat baths and mud baths ; for these and other uses 

 peat materials are assuming considerable prominence commer- 

 cially (see Bull. 16: Chapter IV, Ohio Geological Survey, 1912). It 

 involves a knowledge of the peat materials and the removal and de- 

 struction of specifically suitable beds or strata, and therefore should 

 be resorted to only in exceptional cases after detailed technical 

 information has been secured. Of fundamental significance is the 

 method of collecting the materials; this should not be done withojit 

 reference to the fact that the layers of peat materials in a deposit 

 are different in origin, composition, and properties, and in not a 

 few instances may be entirely unsuitable for the specific uses 

 referred to above. The economic utilization of peat materials, by 

 far much more so than their agricultural usage, must base itself 



