REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR AND STATE GEOLOGIST 1903 39 



The principal purpose for which moss litter is used in this 

 country is for packing trees and plants for shipment. The 

 amount that is used in this way is very great, though the extent 

 of its use is not realized because the gathering and preparation 

 of the litter are not carried on as a regular industry, but each 

 nurseryman sends his own men in slack times to the swamps to 

 obtain the year's supply. 



The preparation of the moss for this purpose consists merely in 

 digging blocks of the material and air-drying them on the surface 

 of the bog before hauling them away. When it is used for pack- 

 ing, it is pulled apart so as to make it light and fluffy. No 

 particular care is used to get rid of the small sticks that may be 

 present, though large pieces of wood are thrown out. In Sweden 

 and Germany it has been used for some time in stables as bedding 

 on account of its absorbing such large quantities of moisture and 

 gases. It is now used to a slight extent for the same purpose 

 in the larger cities of this country. 



In several places in Canada this litter is prepared as an article 

 of commerce, and in this case all the sticks are removed, and the 

 moss is dried. 



Peat fuel 



The use of peat as an article of fuel has been known in European 

 countries from the beginning of the Christian era, and the early 

 references to its use would indicate that it had been employed for 

 a long time before that. Pliny, in his Natural History, relates 

 that " the Chauci pressed together with their hands a kind of 

 mossy earth which they dried by the wind rather than the sun. 

 and which they used not only for cooking their victuals, but also 

 for warming their bodies." During the Middle Ages frequent 

 references to its use were made in leases and other documents, 

 but the great increase in its use came with the invention of the 

 steam engine and the demand for cheap fuel for generating power. 

 Up to that time the only use for peat and other fuel was for 

 domestic purposes, and the method then used and still employed 

 to a large extent in preparing peat for fuel consists of cutting 



