342 
" The value of Peat as fuel," observes Mr. C. Wye Williams 
in his letter to me of June 6, 1854, " is but little known; 
in our Shannon steamers we have not used anything else for 
many years : — among the advantages derived was this, that 
the cost of fuel was only one-half what coal would have been. 
Again, the boilers lasted double the number of years. But 
the great value of peat is in connexion with the working of 
iron. At our works in Liverpool, we use much of it for 
annealing the iron plates for boiler making. The improve- 
ment in the iron is such, that it may literally be said that 
bad iron is converted into good iron. The proofs in this 
case are numerous, but must be seen before a correct know- 
ledge of the changes could be understood. Without this 
annealing process, the plate, if rolled cold, cracks in con- 
nexion with the punched holes ; — nothing of the kind occurs to 
annealed plates. The annealing process is merely the 
placing the plates on their edge, a ton weight at a time, in a 
furnace made red hot by ordinary peat, and then shut up 
closely, allowing the whole to cool slowly. By the following 
morning all is cold : the plates are then taken out for work. 
Annealed iron plates may be burnt cold without cracking." 
In many other of the countries of Europe, peat is much 
used as fuel. In Holland, an immense manufacture of bricks 
is carried on with peat ; and alum works, breweries, bakeries, 
and many other factories, both in France and Germany, use 
no other fuel. A considerable manufacture of wrought iron, 
arms, and general hardware is also carried on with this fuel. 
COMPRESSED PEAT; OR PEAT REDUCED BY PRESSURE TO 
LESS BULK. 
When thoroughly dry, peat may be compressed in large 
quantities, at a moderate expense, into one-half or even one- 
third of its previous bulk ; and, which compressed state it 
will retain, provided it be preserved under cover. The lower 
heavy strata cannot however, be advantageously compressed, 
