476 Peat. [October, 



Kolbermoor the bog surface is harrowed by portable steam 

 power, and the exhaust steam from the fixed compressing 

 engine is employed in drying the fine turf mould. These 

 factories are occupied chiefly in producing compressed turf 

 for locomotive purposes. 



With respect to the efforts that have been made from time 

 to time for depriving raw peat of its water by hydraulic 

 or other mechanical pressures, it may be stated that all such 

 attempts have been entirely unsuccessful. This is not to 

 be wondered at when we consider the nature and properties 

 of peat. 



According to different authorities raw peat, when freshly 

 dug, contains from 75 to go per cent of water, and 100 tons 

 would therefore only produce from 10 to 25 tons of fuel — 

 more generally the former quantity than the latter. How 

 to get rid of this water in a cheap and expeditious manner 

 was, therefore, the important point requiring solution. 



Peat consists of a number of stems or stalks of the 

 Sphagnum, or other peat plant, closely matted together 

 with partially decomposed vegetable matter. These stems 

 all contain capillary tubes, which hold the water with great 

 tenacity, and from which it can only be expelled by the 

 complete destruction of the capillary. Hence we see that 

 the only true method of treating peat is by maceration and 

 precipitation, for it is found that when thoroughly macerated 

 the precipitated particles, uniting themselves by a chemical 

 affinity, discovered by M. Chaleton, a French chemist, 

 causes the pulp to discharge the water contained in it, and 

 to obtain a density nearly the same as pit coal. 



This method of preparing improved fuel from peat is 

 based upon the fact that when raw peat is subjected to any 

 treatment by which, in the wet condition, its fibrous 

 structure is broken up so that the whole forms a homogeneous 

 mass of pulp, it will not only dry more rapidly, but will 

 acquire a cohesion and density in the process of drying 

 greater than any ordinary mechanical pressure could impart 

 to it. This quality of density gives not only an increased 

 value to turf as fuel, but also the great advantages arising 

 from increased facilities of transport. Turf, thus treated, 

 on being thoroughly dried, will sometimes become reduced 

 to one-sixth part of its original bulk or volume. 



The principle of maceration in the preparation of dense 

 turf is found in the making of "hand-turf," as practised in 

 different parts of Ireland. The capability of hand labour 

 for the production of large quantities of dense turf is, how- 

 ever, limited in practice. Dense turf is produced in large 



