190/.] 



Utilisation of Peat Land. 



i47 



outlet was found for it in the manufacture of paper. A few years 

 later it was observed that this fibre could be readily cleaned 

 and bleached, and the material so prepared could be spun into 

 yarn. Since then the preparation of peat fibre for textile 

 purposes has received much attention, especially in Austria, 

 Sweden, Holland, and Germany. It is usually mixed' with 

 6 to 25 per cent, of wool or cotton. Very many other substances 

 are now manufactured to a greater or less extent from peat, 

 such as paraffin, alcohol, creosote, tiles, and bricks for paving 

 purposes, cardboard, pasteboard, &c. Some information as to 

 the utilisation of peat for fuel and fibre appeared in the Bulletin 

 of the Imperial Institute (Vol. III., 1905, p. 166), from which 

 it seems that peat fibre is not made in Great Britain, although 

 an attempt was made to manufacture the product in Yorkshire 

 a few years ago. At present litter and similar materials appear 

 to be the only products other than fuel made from peat in this 

 country. 



Societies for the purpose of encouraging the development of 

 peat lands, both agriculturally and industrially, exist in Germany, 

 Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Austria, while there are a number 

 of State experimental stations and moor farms devoted to the 

 same object. One of the most important societies, the German 

 "Association for the Encouragement of Moor Cultivation," has 

 been in existence for twenty-five years, and now numbers 

 908 members, including 81 foreign members. It held its 

 first exhibition at Berlin in 1904, where everything connected 

 with the subject was displayed. One of the most interesting 

 features was the exhibition of specimen products, such as wheat 

 and oats, potatoes of large size and excellent quality, beet- 

 roots, turnips, onions, cabbage, celery, hay, &c. These exhibits 

 were accompanied by samples and analyses of the soil in 

 which they grew and statements of the quantities of fertilisers 

 used. There was also a large show of implements, artificial 

 manures, and industrial products. 



Another important society on similar lines is the Swedish 

 Moor Association, which was founded in 1886, and has chemical 

 and botanical laboratories at Jonkoping, with an experimental 

 garden, a library, and museum. At Flahult, some seven miles 

 distant, the Society has an experimental farm of 300 acres, 

 where field experiments are carried out, and also two small model 



K 2 



