470 Peat. [October, 



proportion of carbon possessing also the greatest calorific 

 value. The use of machinery and other appliances in the 

 preparation of peat is chiefly to increase its density and to 

 expel as much as possible of the water which it naturally 

 contains. Now Sir R. Kane has stated that it is very usual 

 to find the peat of commerce containing one-fourth of its 

 weight of water, and that when dried* in the air it will 

 contain one-tenth of its weight. Hence the necessity for 

 resorting to artificial means for getting rid of the water, 

 which only has the effect of detracting from the value of the 

 fuel ; and it will be our object to point out some of the 

 numerous devices which have been proposed for this purpose, 

 and of the results obtained from them. 



Almost all authors who have written on the subject of 

 peat — with the single exception, so far as we are aware, of 

 Dr. Zimmermann — assert that peat is a recent formation; 

 for there appear never to have been found in it any remains 

 of antediluvian animals, whilst bones of the ox, and the 

 horse, horns of the stag and of the roebuck, and tusks of 

 the boar are not of uncommon occurrence. The nature 

 of the soil upon which peat bogs rest is that of ordinary 

 vegetable earth, such as any other vegetation might grow 

 upon. Frant and Sthel accord to peat a mineral origin ; 

 but there can, we think, at the present day, be few, if any, 

 who would agree with them in this respect. Dejan says 

 that peat is produced by marsh reeds and other aquatic 

 plants, the stalks of which multiply, cross one another, 

 interlacing themselves, and thus end by forming a solid 

 mass of vegetable fibre. Other authors attribute the forma- 

 tion of peat to forests which, by reason of some natural 

 phenomenon, have become thrown down and submerged, 

 and, by a partial decomposition of wood and leaves, have 

 given birth to peat. Zimmermann, again, gives another 

 account of the growth of peat, which, he says, is formed 

 of the decomposed roots of a group of plants, called 

 Sphagnum. Peat of ancient formation, however, that author 

 considers to be principally composed of the foliage and 

 stalks of a reed-grass, or rush, of the roots of various 

 aquatic plants, and of some peat-turf. 



That peat is of vegetable origin there can be no reasonable 

 doubt, but it appears in many varieties, according principally 

 to its age and the circumstances of its origin. The fore- 

 going remarks relative to the nature and character of peat, 

 may at first sight appear to be not relevant to the subject 

 more especially under consideration, namely, the different 

 methods of preparing peat for fuel and the machinery 



