762 
Peat and its Products. 
square. Tlie pressure employed is about 4 horse-power, aud 6 cubic feet of 
the loose material are pressed into a space of 2 cubic feet, being then baled 
with six to ten laths of wood and bound round with iron wire. It is now 
ready for the market, and is valued at Is. per cwt. at the railway station. 
The moss-litter factory on the Carolinenhorst moor employs 
fourteen to sixteen hands, of which one-third are women, the 
working day being ten hours. An adult workman is paid about 
2 hd. per hour, a young man 2d., and a woman 1 \d. 
One of the most important points to be observed in working 
a moor for moss litter is that it should be drained, as well as cir- 
cumstances will permit, before the cutting is commenced. If 
this is not done properly the amount of labour required is very 
considerably increased, as with every sod of peat a quantity of 
water exceeding its own weight is raised to the surface. The 
drains cannot, in wet bogs, be cut down to their full projected 
depth at once, but must be deepened at intervals of time as the 
superior strata become drier and harder. If this precaution be 
not observed, the banks of the drains are liable to give way, 
and rifts and flaws are formed in the peat which render the sub- 
sequent working much more difficult. 
The method of cutting moss peat is exactly the same as that 
already described for peat fuel. As, however, the moss peat is 
more difficult to dry, having a greater power of absorbing mois- 
ture, it is not stacked at the edge of the cutting, but is carted 
to a suitable drying-ground. For this a well-drained and 
naturally dry spot is chosen, so that the peat may not absorb 
moisture from the ground. The construction of absolutely dry 
stacking grounds, with wooden floors or planking, has been 
found much too expensive ; and attempts to dry the sods arti- 
ficially, or at least in covered sheds, have also failed for the same 
reason. 
Hot-air chambers or ovens for drying moss peat have been 
tried by Herr Rottbarth at Gifhorn, by the Britannia Moss Litter 
Company at Doncaster, and by Herr Coyet at Romeholm, in 
Sweden ; but in all three cases the attempt has been abandoned. 
The first machine for tearing up the sods of moss peat 
(“ Reisswolf”) was constructed by M. Hollmann, and consisted 
of a plain wooden cylinder set witli nails, and revolving at the 
bottom of a feeding box shaped like an inverted pyramid. 
An improved apparatus of this kind is manufactured by the 
firm of J. Haye & Etzhorn, in Oldenburg, and consists of a 
cylindrical drum about 18 inches in diameter, and 2 feet to 2 
feet 6 inches in length, set with sharp and pointed pins, which 
pass close to an iron rail fixed on one side of the box as the 
drum revolves. This machine is constructed so as to manipu- 
