Peat and its Products. 
759 
The first class is the (lark peat, approaching to coal, which is usually cut 
from the lowest stratum, and is heaviest. It shrinks most in the process of 
drying, a fresh sod when cut measuring 13 inches in length by 10 inches 
high and broad. This class of peat burns slowly, and when fifteen sods are 
burned in a closed stove, they will leave about a large wineglass full of 
white ash. 
The second class is lighter in colour and weight, and is a more recent for- 
mation. 
The third class is the top stratum, and is of least value, except in those 
cases where it is suitable for the manufacture of moss litter. These lower 
classes of peat leave more ash in burning. In some places, these differences 
in the quality of peat taken from the top or the bottom of the stratum do 
not occur, the moss being uniform throughout. 
The peat is sold by auction at Carolinenhorst, and fetches, 
as a rule, 1st class 14s., 2nd class 10s., and 3rd class 8s. per 
“ Klafter ” of 1,200 sods. 
The moor at Carolinenhorst employs about 500 men and 
women for cutting and stacking peat, chiefly for fuel. The 
average amount earned by a man at this woi’k is from 4s. to 
4s. 6d. per day, the payment being according to the quantity 
cut. The women are paid about 3 \d. for every cubic metre 
stacked. 
Moss Litter. — It is probable that in districts where peat was 
used as fuel the refuse of the turf was employed long ago as litter, 
and for manuring purposes. This presumption is sustained by 
writings which were published in Germany at the beginning of 
this century upon the uses of peat. 
The most primitive method of obtaining moss litter, prac- 
tised on the higher moors of North-Western Germany for many 
years, consists in ploughing up and harrowing the soil imme- 
diately underlying a surface covered with moss turf, after burn- 
ing off the heather. This is begun in the late autumn; in the 
spring the surface is again harrowed, and, when thoroughly dry, 
is thrown into heaps, the process being repeated as often as the 
weather will admit of each addition to the heap becoming 
thoroughly dry. This method is simple and inexpensive, but 
the product is not of sufficiently good quality, and contains too 
great an admixture of earth and dust to be marketable. It can 
only be used on the spot. 
These disadvantages were removed by a process invented by 
M. Hollmann, of Zappenburg, near Gifliorn, in the year 1878, 
which process (described on p. 761) proved so successful that 
he established a moss-litter manufactory at Gif horn in 1879-80, 
and others in Oldenburg, Hanover, and Holland a year or two 
later. The deficiency of straw in the harvest of 1881 gave a great 
impetus to the manufacture of moss litter, and as M. Hollmann 
had not been able to obtain a patent for his process, a number 
