482 Peat. [October, 



time, takes about two months, and the peat blocks are then 

 ready for use. 



From the particulars above given, it will readily be 

 assented that, in the application of the principle of 

 macerating the raw peat, and in the air-drying process, will 

 be found the only reasonable system of producing dense turf 

 upon a commercial basis : and this is the conclusion to 

 which Mr. Purdon's Committee in Dublin arrived. The 

 simple air-drying of raw peat, as it is cut in blocks, with 

 the slane from the peat bed, produces but a light friable 

 species of fuel, and one which is inconvenient for transport, 

 and subject to considerable waste in handling. The more 

 fibrous the peat is, the more subject is it to both these 

 inconveniences. The maceration of the peat into a pulp 

 is, in effect, the hastening of the work of Nature ; and 

 its subsequent precipitation causes the production of a 

 result in a few days equal in effect to what would have 

 taken probably centuries in the ordinary course of events. 



The question of cost of producing dense peat by macera- 

 tion and precipitation has purposely not been treated of in 

 the present article, as it has not yet been carried out to 

 a sufficient extent in this country to enable reliable data to 

 be obtained ; besides which, many considerations have to be 

 taken into account which differ largely in various districts, 

 such as the price of labour, local peculiarities, the distance 

 of the bog from the manufactory, and other points which 

 will readily suggest themselves, so that they need not be 

 farther dwelt on here. As some guide to the cost, however, 

 it may be as well to state, that at Brandenberg the total 

 cost of labour in the production of dense turf was estimated 

 by Mr. Purdon's Committee at 6s. 6d. per ton ; at Prince 

 Schwartzenberg's works near Gratzen, in Bohemia, the cost 

 of manufacture is set down at 6s. gd. per ton ; Hodge's 

 Canadian Peat Company produce peat at 6s. 6d. ; the 

 Boston Peat Company at 8s. ; at Haspelmoor, in Bavaria, 

 it costs 12s. ; Messrs. Clayton, Son, and Howlett estimate 

 the cost by their process at from 3s. 6d. to 5s. ; whilst 

 Mr. Box believes, that, by his process, the expense of 

 manufacturing peat will be only 2s. per ton. 



