32 BULLETIN 802, U. S. DEPAETMEISTT 0¥ AGRICULTURE. 



as an absorbent of gases (Table II) and of the valuable nitrogenous 

 material of stables. The advantages of mull as powdered fuel in 

 blast burners are considerable and of great importance for certain 

 localities. The firing is reported to give a higher fuel efficiency and 

 is relatively smokeless on account of the intimate mixture with the 

 air or gases used. Moreover, there is the possibility of regulating 

 the supply required for complete combustion. The change from 

 oxidizing to reducing flame and from low to very high temperatures 

 can be accomplished quickly. 



The poorly disintegrated phases of these types of peat make a very 

 inferior grade of fuel. With the same treatment through pugging or 

 macerating machines, they make a bulky product, light in weight 

 ( Table II ) , dusty and brittle when dry. The well-disintegrated layers 

 of the same plant remains form a much finer grained, uniform, com- 

 pact mass. The methods and machinery employed for working bog 

 types of peat material, either for use as litter and mull or for heat and 

 power, as machine-shaped air-dried blocks of peat for direct firing, 

 for gas generators, or for distillation products, should therefore be 

 determined in each individual case by a careful preliminary exami- 

 nation. It is obvious that only such deposits permit successful de- 

 velopment as provide not only the quantity and quality of peat 

 materials required, but if utilized would not cause an impairment of 

 the land value of the underlying mineral soil. In Europe the most 

 profitable utilization has been a combination of both the technical and 

 the agricultural possibilities to which the peat area may be put dur- 

 ing and after the removal of these materials. 



BOG-MOSS TYPE. 

 " Sphagnum peat," " Bleichmoostorf," 



Loose, spongy, fibrous or matted-porous, often layered plant re- 

 mains from the entire plants of different species of sphagnum mosses, 

 usually with an admixture of other bog-plant material ; light grayish 

 brown, yellowish, or deep brown in color, according to the degree 

 of disintegration and the species of moss predominating. Where the 

 development of the laj^er has been gradual and the extension of the 

 mat has become anchored or has been built up, the material consists 

 of poorly disintegrated remains of moss with relatively small 

 amounts of macerated debris and finely fibrous sedge peat. Frag- 

 ments from heath plants are present in varying quantities. 



In the floating-mat phase and in the deeper layers of bog-moss 

 peat which are more advanced in stages of disintegration, the plastic 

 or oozy component occurs in greater abundance. The material is 

 dark brown to blackish in color and shrinks considerably upon dry- 

 ing. 



