466 Peat. [October, 



IV. PEAT. 

 By Frederick Charles Danvers, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 



S all questions connected with fuel are, at the present 

 day, of primary importance, it is proposed, in the 

 present article, to investigate the subject of peat, 

 and the treatment it undergoes in order to fit it for all the 

 different purposes, domestic and industrial, to which it has 

 been, and is now, in some part, applied. Before, however, 

 dealing with the various means by which it is prepared, it 

 will be advisable to give some few details of its nature and 

 peculiarities, as well as such scientific and statistical 

 accounts of its available quantity and commercial value, as 

 may tend to demonstrate more fully the vast mine of wealth 

 lying hidden beneath the surface of bogs, and which is too 

 often half neglected even where it is not wholly ignored and 

 unutilised. 



Notwithstanding the inferior calorific value of peat, which 

 we shall further allude to presently, it has several undoubted 

 advantages over coal, of which we may specially notice that 

 it is more easily worked, and that without the necessity of 

 any large expenditure on plant and machinery, such as is 

 required for coal mines ; the working of a peat bog is 

 unattended with those dangers to life and limb which are so 

 characteristic of coal mines ; peat is reproductive, and can 

 be cultivated, whereas the supply of coal existing in any 

 country is incapable of being maintained, and must in 

 course of time become exhausted. Peat can consequently 

 be worked more cheaply and economically than coal. On 

 the other hand, as we have already stated, the calorific 

 value of peat is inferior to that of coal ; its specific gravity 

 being lighter, it is also more bulky, and consequently more 

 costly, bulk for bulk, in carriage. Peat produces several 

 valuable products on distillation, to which we shall refer 

 more particularly as we proceed ; it also produces a very 

 pure charcoal which is highly esteemed in many manufac- 

 tures.. The best mode of carbonising peat for charcoal has 

 been the subject of numerous experiments, but space will 

 not admit of our entering upon this part of the question in 

 the present article. 



It will thus be seen that, although peat is undoubtedly 

 inferior to coal as a fuel, it yet possesses many valuable 

 properties and advantages which render it well suited as a 

 substitute for coal, especially in localities in the near 



