47* ?<■"■■• [October, 



thirty to forty years for a peat-bed to grow to the extent of 

 one metre in depth, or about three metres in depth of good 

 peat for fuel is produced in the course of a century. 



It must be borne in mind that it is not possible to work 

 all peat bogs with profit, and they are therefore again sub- 

 divided into those that are workable and unworkable bos:s. 

 When a bog is of a sufficient extent, and its peat of a good 

 quality, not only should it be worked, but it should also be 

 cultivated, the same principles of reproduction being appli- 

 cable to peat bogs as to scientifically worked forests, where 

 a system of clearing and planting are going on continually. 

 One advantage of peat crops is that they have not to be 

 gathered year by year, but the longer they are left, the 

 greater and better in quality is their yield, and they are 

 also independent of those variations in meteorological con- 

 ditions which too often lead to the deterioration of other 

 crops. After a careful consideration of those plants which 

 are most productive in the formation of peat, it is necessary, 

 for the sake of obtaining peat of good quality and purity, t 

 protect the bog from the introduction of foreign matters. 

 As these bogs are mostly situated in valleys, surrounded, for 

 a part, at least, of their circumference, by hills, care must 

 be taken to prevent silt being carried over their surface by 

 heavy rains ; the best way to accomplish this being to cut a 

 trench round that portion of the bog exposed to such incur- 

 sions. Unworkable bogs are those which do not produce 

 peat of a sufficiently good quality to make it worth while to 

 work them for fuel ; these should be drained and cultivated. 



Having now briefly treated of the nature and properties 

 of growing peat, it may be interesting, before passing on to 

 a description of the various methods of preparing it, to give 

 some idea of the extent to which it is known to exist in 

 different countries, in order to show how vast an area is 

 available for the production and growth of fuel. 



In France alone the peat deposits cover an area of about 

 1,200,000 hectares. They are spread over 5S departments, 

 and are found in 5140 different localities. It does not appear 

 that there are any peat bogs in Algeria ; and, indeed, it is 

 rather the exception than the rule to find this fuel growing 

 in tropical climates. It has been stated by some authors 

 that a temperature below £ centigrade is necessary for the 

 formation of peat, but this does not appear to be fully borne 

 out by actual experience ; for, as we shall presently show, 

 peat deposits are to be found almost all over the world, but 

 they are unquestionably most numerous in the more humid 

 and temperate climates. In Belgium, the principal peat 



