Peat and its Products. 
757 
with regard to the manufacture of fuel, moss litter, and other 
products of peat. In due course reports were received from 
Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden 
and Norway. These 1 were presented to both Houses of Parlia- 
ment in March 1893, and from them the information now to be 
submitted is chiefly derived. 
Germany. — The area covered by peat bogs (“ Torfmoore ”) 
in Germany is very extensive, especially in the northern pro- 
vinces of Prussia and the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, but no 
statistics of any sort are available as to the actual acreage and 
production. Almost all these moors are worked locally for fuel 
peat, and the manufacture of moss litter is also very widely 
spread. The peat bogs belonging to State domains in Prussia, of 
which a large number exist, are generally worked by the Govern- 
ment Forest Department ; many of them , 1 lowever, are let for a 
term of years to private individuals, the lease being usually made 
out for thirty years or more, and the tenant having the right, and 
in some cases assuming the obligation, of removing all the peat 
during that time, thus preparing the land for agricultural 
development. 
The principal products obtained from peat in Germany are : — 
(1) Fuel, including turf coal and turf coke. (2) Moss litter. 
(3) Peat dust (“ Torfmull”), for disinfecting purposes, &c. (4) 
Coarse textile fabrics, paper, and various chemical products. 
Peat Fuel . — The use of peat as fuel is universal in the neigh- 
bourhood of the moors, but is generally local. It cannot com- 
pete with coal for cheapness in any districts near the seaports, 
or near towns which have railway communication. Peat for 
fuel cannot pay railway freight for more than 20 miles from 
the place where it is cut, and very little is ever conveyed by 
rail. The rate charged is about 9s. per load of 9,000 sods of 
peat for 10 miles. 
There are no available statistics, either in Prussia or the 
other peat-producing German States, as to the amount consumed, 
but considering the wide distribution of peat bogs throughout 
the country, it is probably very great. It is estimated, for 
instance, that in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg alone about 
150,000 tons of peat are burnt per annum, chiefly for household 
purposes, but also in baking-ovens, brick-kilns, &c. 
The method of obtaining peat for fuel at Carolinenhorst, 
1 Reports from Her Majesty's Representatives on the Manufacture of Fuel, 
Moss Litter, and other Products of Peat in European Countries. [C. — 6913.] 
