642 PEAT. 



SYNOPSIS OF PEAT. 



A. Loose or powdery, and often intermixed with 

 clay or sand: mountain and heath peat. 



B. Spongy, imperfect, and containing a large 

 proportion of the roots and fragments of undecom- 

 posed vegetables. 



C. Compact, but still retaining numerous frag- 

 ments of vegetables and passing into the former. 

 This is the most ordinary variety of that used for fuel. 



D. Highly compacted, with a total loss of the 

 vegetable texture. The specific gravity of this is 

 greater than that of the last, and it burns, nearly like 

 coal, with a considerable flame. It is much more rare 

 than the former varieties, but is found in North Uist 

 and the adjoining islands. 



The varieties B, C, D, are commonly found 

 in the same deposit ; B, C, always ; the spongy 

 kinds being at the top, and the compact below. 

 The progress of vegetable decomposition, or of the 

 perfection of the peat, is thus indicated. When 

 wet, and in their native places, all the varieties of 

 peat are soft, but they become hard by drying. 



E. Compact, generally flaky when dry, and con- 

 taining" fragments, roots, and trunks of trees. Forest 

 peat. 



F. When wet, a mixture of water and fine pow- 



