sy:^. 



NovaUBEB 9, 1905. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review, 



14U 



Quaint Receptacles for Flowers. 



(Phlox In a stoneware pitcher.) 



quet" style of the amateur and the 

 trade "centerpiece" of too many pro 

 fessional florists. Gertrude Blair. 



PEAT FOR FUEL. 



Lignite is now used extensively for 

 fuel in a number of the western states, 

 and although generally regarded as a 

 low form of coal and of comparatively 

 recent origin, it is not the first stage 

 in the formation of the coal measures. 

 Peat is a still more recent form of coal, 

 and though not as valuable as lignite, 

 yet there are places and conditions when 

 it is found profitable to use it for fuel. 

 The Railway Age says that in Bussia 

 compressed peat bricks from a bog at 

 Kieflf have been used in locomotives with 

 success, and they are regarded as a legiti- 

 mate substitute for coal. In Germany 

 and Holland compressed peat bricks are 

 made in large quantities as a regular 

 commercial product. During the past 

 year peat has been used extensively by 

 the Swedish state locomotives on freight 

 trains. Here the peat briquettes are 

 mixed with an equal weight of British 

 coal. 



In this country the interest in peat 

 or bog fuel is confined largely to New 

 England, where there are no coal meas- 

 ures, but there is also some activity in 

 developing the peat-^ industry in the mid- 

 dle west. New England railroads are 

 now experimenting with peat as fuel, but 

 no conclusions have as yet bfeen reached 

 as to its economy as compared with bitu- 

 minous coal. 



The density of coals depends upon the 

 time they have been under formation 

 and the pressure to which they have 



been subjected. Anthracite coal is the 

 oldest and it is found at the greatest 

 depth and has the highest specific grav- 

 ity. Bituminous coal comes next, with 

 the measures only a few hundred feet 

 from the surface. Lignite is found 

 quite near the surface and is light, like 

 charcoal. The composition of peat is 

 naturally similar to that of wood, the 

 principal diflference being that it has 

 lees oxygen and more carbon. The aver- 

 age analysis of a pure, dry specimen is: 



Carbon, fifty-five; hydrogen, five; oxygen 

 and sulphur, thirty-five; ash, five per 

 cent. The heat of combustion is lower 

 than that of coal or lignite and aver- 

 ages sixty-five to seventy-five per cent 

 of good coal. 



Peat or bog fuel is the first stage of 

 the formation of a coal measure and is 

 found as black mud in meadows, or in 

 sphagnum moss peat bogs and in the 

 turf on the hills of Ireland. For ordi- 

 nary domestic use it is sufficient to al- 

 low the material to dry thoroughly in 

 the sun until it cracks, but for indus- 

 trial purposes it must be prepared for 

 transportation and made waterproof. 

 On account of its great bulk it is neces- 

 sary to compress the crude material after 

 it has been dried, and briquette machines 

 have been devised for the purpose. Some 

 of these use a pressure sufficient to make 

 a hard, compact briquette, having a spe- 

 cific gravity nearly equal to that of good 

 bituminous <:oal. 



A number of different processes and 

 machines are used in the peat industry; 

 some are like ordinary brick machines 

 which use the bog, mud or peat after it 

 is ground or macerated. Another process 

 merely presses the dried peat into dense 

 briquettes under heavy pressure with 

 soiTje added binder and with artificial 

 heat. These briquettes are not usually 

 waterproof and must be used near the 

 bogs, Anotlier proceiSs heats the cylin- 

 der in which compression takes place so 

 that a form of hydrocarbon is caked on 

 the surface and makes a glaze not unlike 

 that of anthracite coal. The effect of 

 this is to render the briquette water- 

 proof. An experimental machine of this 

 type is now operating in Chicago and 

 makes peat briquettes in the form of a 

 disc three inches in diameter and half 

 an inch thick. The compression cylinder 

 is about twelve inches long and the 

 pressure amounts to about twenty tons 

 on the 3-inch plunger. 



It is claimed by some of these peat 

 fuel companies that peat briquettes which 

 are waterproof and will bear transporta- 

 tion have a heat value nearly equal to 

 that of ordinary bituminous coal, and 

 they can be produced at a net cost of $1 

 per ton. While it is hardly possible for 

 peat to compete successfully with coal in 

 the vicinity of coal mines, yet it is 

 gradually becoming recognized in the 



♦^.v., i 



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Quaint Receptacles for Flowers. 



(Pink shell aa a pansy bowl.) 



