474 



Peat. 



[October, 



Dr. Percy, in his work on Metallurgy, gives the following 

 particulars of peat from Ireland (four samples), and of peat 

 discovered by Dr. Hugh Falconer on the banks of a lake in 

 Cashmere : — 



Locality. Density. Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Nitrogen. Ash. 



Ireland : — 



Philipstown 



Ditto . . . 



Wood of Allen 



Ditto . . . 



Cashmere 



58-69 



6-97 



32-88 



i*45 



1-99 



60-48 



6*io 



32'55 



o-88 



3*30 



59*92 



6*6i 



32'2I 



1-25 



2*74 



61-02 



577 



32-40 



o-8i 



7-90 



32-28 



3*66 



21*03 



i-8i 



29-80 



0-405 



0*669 



o*339 

 0-639 



/Water. . 



The following are analyses by M. Regnault : — 



Locality. Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Ash. 



Vulcaire, near Abbeville . 57*05 5-63 21*76 15*58 



Longpres 58*09 5*95 2*13 14*61 



Champfen (Vosges) . . . 5779 6*n 20*97 15*35 



We have here purposely limited ourselves to a notice of 

 the analyses of peat of the best quality — with the exception 

 of that from Cashmere. The latter will afford some idea of 

 the wide range in variation of constituents which may be 

 found in peat. We now give one or two analyses of the 

 component parts of peat obtained by distillation : — 



Ammoniacal 



Locality. 



Vesle (Marne). 



Charcoal. 



15*45 

 24*40 



40*25 

 33-60 



Tar. 



6-8o 



Liquid. Gas. Ash. Loss, 

 ind Water. 



38*90 18*60 19*25 1*00 



Kcenigsbrunn . 



Baviere . . . 

 Brunswick . . 



24*50 



5*oo 



70*60 5*00 — 



Nitro n Carbonic Carb. of 

 ° ' acid. Hydrog. 

 14-10 0-27 io*8o I0*l8 

 Gas and loss. Cinders. 



35*00 20*00 6*40 — 



The lower the stratum of the bog from which peat is ex- 

 tracted, the more valuable it is as a fuel. The upper surface 

 of a bog is often styled turf to distinguish it from the peat 

 which lies below. When peat is cut in the ordinary manner, 

 with the view of being burnt as fuel after having merely 

 been dried, and without any further preparation, a particular 

 shaped spade * is used, which cuts the peat at once in 



* At the Government works, at Haspelmoor, in Bavaria, much of the turf 

 used as fuel in the locomotives of the state railways is less, on an average, 

 than two inches in thickness ; the object of this being to facilitate and expedite 

 the process of drying. At an Agricultural Exhibition, at Munich, the attention 

 of the Irish Commission was attracted to a double plane, intended for cutting 

 two sods of turf at a stroke, which they considered well suited for raising 

 thin sods. 



