PEAT. 



95 



PEAT. 



Description. This substance, also known by the name of Turf, has a loose texture, often 

 porous or even spongy. When recently dug, it forms a viscid slimy mass, which, by exposure 

 to the air, becomes dry, hard, and more or less light and brittle. Its colour is brown, some- 

 times yellowish or reddish, or a dull black. 



Peal consists essentially of vegetable matter in various states of decomposition ; but it is 

 more or less mixed with saline and earthy substances. It burns with different degrees of ease, 

 but sufficiently well to be employed as fuel. It gives out a bituminous odour, and leaves an 

 abundant residue of light ashes, which, however, is sometimes largely mixed with earthy 

 matters. 



Peat is usually associated with marl, and its localities are almost as numerous as are those 

 of that mineral.* From its great abundance, it will undoubtedly, at no distant period, be as 

 extensively employed here as it now is in other countries. In many of our manufactories, it 

 might be used with great advantage ; as, for example, in the burning of bricks, of limestone, 

 &c. It may also become valuable as a manure. 



Chemical composition. The weight of a cubic foot of peat varies from forty-four to 

 seventy pounds, the denser variety yielding about forty per cent, of charcoal. According to 

 Sir H. Davy, one hundred parts of dry peat contain from sixty to ninety-nine parts of matter 

 destructible by fire ; and the residuum consists of earthy substances, usually of the same kinds 

 as the substratuiji, as clay, marl, &c. 



The method of procuring and preparing this article for use, is sufficiently simple. The 

 beds of peat are almost always superficial, and on that account may be easily worked. The 

 upper part, which is very fibrous, and is composed of a network of vegetable matters very 

 distinct, is readily distinguishable from the lower part, which is compact, and formed of ve- 

 getables almost wholly decomposed, or without any apparent organic structure. Of these the 

 latter is most highly valued. It is removed by a spade, and when of proper consistence, is 

 moulded into the form of large bricks, and then dried by exposure to the sun and air. Some- 

 times machinery is employed for this purpose.t 



* For several New- York localities of peat, the reader is referred to the article on marl, page 83. 



t It may be useful to give a particular description of the process of turf-digging, as it is practised in Ireland. "The turf-spade, 

 in shape, is not unlike that used by gardeners in general ; but it is lighter and narrower. With this implement, the workman first 

 cuts away, in a sort of large cubical sods, the superior turfy stratum of the bog : as this is comparatively loose and light, it is 

 presently dried and ready for use. On digging lower, the substance of the peat becomes more moist and compact, and appears 

 more like rotten wood than the roots of moss ; it has, however, a sufficient degree of fibrous connexion to admit of its being readily 

 raised in masses somewhat resembling large bricks. These quadrangular clods, which the digger cuts out and throws up with 

 great dexterity, are heaped in small stacks to dry ; after which, they are either used on the spot, or carted away by purchasers, 

 according to circumstances : to preserve them through the winter, the piles are sometimes thatched. On sinking still lower in the 

 bog, the matter becomes less solid, loses its coherency, and assumes the consistency of black sludge ; this is laded out with a 

 scoop, similar to that used by brickmakers for wetting their clay, and is thrown upon a smooth floor or bottom, where, from expo- 



