751 
PEAT AND ITS PRODUCTS. 
The deposits of peat which exist in Great Britain and Ireland 
are too numerous and too extensive to permit of their being 
disregarded as potential sources of wealth. It has been my 
endeavour in the preparation of this paper to construct, at 
least for England and Wales, a geographical list of the chief 
beds of peat, together with details as to their area, depth, 
and general characteristics. As a matter of fact, however, the 
necessary data are not available. Being a surface deposit, peat 
found no recognised place in the maps of the “ solid geology ” 
of the country when these were prepared by the Geological 
Survey. This omission will, no doubt, be to some extent made 
good in the drift maps which are now in course of construction, 
but it is impossible to say when this series of charts— so impor- 
tant from an agricultural point of view — will be completed. 
Where both the “ solid ” map and the drift map are available for 
a given locality, they will serve to throw considerable light upon 
the abundance or otherwise of peat in the district. 
Much has been written about peat, and in the course of 
these pages reference will be made to the bibliography of the 
subject. The circumstance that inquiries have recently been 
instituted, on behalf of the British Government, in various peat- 
producing countries of Europe, as to the utilisation of peat, is 
sufficient to show that the matter continues to be one of high 
practical interest. The results of the inquiries referred to will, 
in due course, come under notice, but some general introduction 
would seem to be desirable. 
Peat is concisely defined by Sir Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., 1 as 
follows : — 
Vegetable matter more or less decomposed and chemically altered, 
found throughout temperate climates in boggy places where marshy plants 
grow and decay. It varies from a pale yellow or brown fibrous substance, 
like turf or compressed hay, in which the plant-remains are abundant and 
conspicuous, to a compact dark-brown or black material, resembling black 
clay when wet, and some varieties of lignite when dried. The nature and 
proportions of the constituent elements of peat, after being dried at 100° C., 
are illustrated by the analysis of an Irish specimen, which gave — carbon, 
GO-48; hydrogen, G IO; oxygen, 32-55 ; nitrogen, 0'88, while the ash was 
3-30. 
There is always a large proportion of water which cannot be driven off 
even by drying the peat. In the manufacture of compressed peat for fuel 
this constituent, which of course lessens the value of the peat as compared 
Text-lock of Geology, 1882, p. 170. 
