and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society,— October, 1911. 372 



PEAT UTILIZATION IN GERMANY. 



Efforts are being made in Germany to improve 

 the cultivation of marshes and moorland. The 

 success attained in this direction in the Nether- 

 lands has attracted attention in Germany, par- 

 ticularly since Dutch gardeners and truck 

 farmers have predicted that, were the marshes 

 of Prussia cultivated like those of Holland, the 

 German canned fruit and vegetable industry 

 would conquer the markets of the world. The 

 German marsh and moorlands cover an area of 

 above five million acres. The largest districts 

 by far are in Prussia, especially in the provinces 

 of Hanover and Schleswig-Holstein, and also in 

 Pomerania, Brandenburg, Posen, and Ost- 

 Preussen, The best quality of peat from Ger- 

 man soil, so called air-dry peat, contains about 

 45 per cent of carbon according to the American 

 Consul at Stettin, I "5 per cent of hydrogen, 

 28'5 per cent of chemically bound water, 25 per 

 cent of hygroscopic water, and small amounts of 

 nitrogen. The annual production of peat in the 

 Empire amounts to about 11 million tons. Re- 

 garding the heating qualities of the best peat, 

 it has been established that the average peat 

 is equal to dry beechwood at similar weight 

 and equal to coal of half the weight. There 

 is a vast difference, however, in heating power 

 between the different grades of peat at equal 

 weights. If the ash exceeds 25 per cent 

 the peat is deemed not adapted for fuel pur- 

 poses. The percentage of ash can vary from one- 

 half of 1 per cent, to 50 per cent. The industrial 

 utilisation of peat for lighting purposes has been 

 attempted for many years in Germany, but as 

 yet there has been no satisfactory solution of 

 the problem of how to produce power-gas from 

 peat more cheaply than from coal. In conjunc- 

 tion therewith the generation of ammonia and 

 of electricity has been attracting much attention 

 in scientific quarters, and at the last annual con- 

 vention of German scientists and physicians this 

 problem was discussed as a result of new views 

 anD investigations presented by Dr. Caro, of 

 Berlin. In collaboration with Professor Frank, 

 of Charlottenburg, Dr. Caro discovered a me- 

 thod for the economic utilisation of peat which 

 he claims avoids former mistakes, and which he 

 described as follows. The generator consists ot 

 shaft-like ovens, where the burning of the peat 

 is conducted in a way admitting limited quan- 

 tities of air. Thus also, a dry peat in pieces can 

 be treated, and produces a gas strongly impreg- 

 nated with tar fumes, which gas, after purifica- 

 tion from tar, will furnish a useful heating and 

 power gas. The inventor found that if the 

 gasification process is properly conducted, peat 

 containing as much as 60 per cent, of water 

 could be used. Peat having a percentage of 

 water above 60 could be dried down to this 

 figure by storage in the open air. This process. 

 Dr. Caro asserts, permits the manufacture of a 

 good heating gas during the entire year, and 

 he claims that it can be used in connection with 

 the generation of electricity. In view of the 

 absence of constant water-power in Germany, he 

 thinks that the invention will cheapen the cost 

 of generating current. Another result of the 

 discovery is the extraction of nitrogen by this 

 process, 85 per cent, of this element contained 



in the peat being recovered therefrom. This 

 nitrogen can be converted into ammonia by the 

 introduction of steam. The method admits of the 

 production of ammonium sulphate, and thus 

 furnishes agriculture with a valuable fertiliser. 

 The Prussian Minister of Agriculture is 

 now engaged in preparing a comprehensive law 

 giving the Government extensive power to 

 stimulate by direct financial assistance, as well 

 as by the use of all available governmental faci- 

 lities in the broadest application, all efforts for 

 the cultivation of the German marshes and 

 moors, although 90 per cent, of the Prussian 

 high moorlands are in private hands. — Royal 

 Society of Arts Journal, Sept. 8. 



[Can anything be done to utilise Peat depo- 

 sits in Ceylon ?-A. M. & J. P.] 



THE MARSEILLES PEANUT-OIL 

 INDUSTRY. 



Peanut oil ranks next to olive oil in popular 

 favour, being generally preferred in France to 

 cotton oil. It is highly rated as a salad and a 

 cooking oil, and is used extensively in the manu- 

 facture of margarine and by sardine packers. It 

 is frequently mixed with olive and other vege- 

 table oils. The industrial grades obtained from 

 the Indian nuts, and the second pressings of 

 the African varieties, are consumed mainly 

 by the soap-making industry, but a certain' 

 proportion is also employed for illuminating 

 and lubricating purposes. The Marseilles mills 

 produced in 1910, 170,000 tons of peanut-oil 

 cake. The cake is used for cattle feeding. About 

 80,000 tons are exported annually, chiefly to 

 Germany and Scandinavia. Peanuts in the 

 shell are never ground whole in the Marseilles 

 mills. On the contrary, expression of the oil is 

 almost invariably preceded by a careful prepara- 

 tion of the nuts, particularly in the case of edible 

 oil. The peanuts are crushed only after having 

 been cleaned and decorticated, and after every 

 effort has been made to remove enirely the germs 

 and the red skin covering the kernels. All these 

 operat\ons are done by machinery. According to 

 the United States Consul General at Marseilles, 

 the peanuts andergo a preliminary cleaning in a 

 rotary sieve; they are afterwards brought by a 

 lift to the decorticating machine and passed 

 through grooved rollers' so adjusted as to husk 

 the nuts without crushing the kernels. The 

 separation of the husks and kernels is effected by 

 ventilation. The germs, sprouts and red skin 

 still adhering to the kernels after the husking 

 process, are stripped off by friction against the 

 coarse-wired meshes of a rapidly oscillating sieve 

 the operatiou being completed by a ventilator 

 connected with the apparatus. It is extremely 

 difficult, however, to detach the red cuticle en- 

 tirely from the kernels, and in the case of new 

 crop nuts it is said to be a practical impossibi- 

 lity. After the kernels have been cleaned, they 

 are ground by a crusher provided with two 

 pairs of rollers. The mass emerging from tho 

 rollers falls into a " sasseur;" or sifter, which 

 separates the coarse from the fine meal, the re- 

 maining stones and other foreign substances 

 having been eliminated by an aspirator, Ihg 



