Peat and its Products. 
777 * 
If these analyses be compared, and allowance made for the fact that dry 
straw contains in itself, calculated dry, 07 per cent, of nitrogen, and dry 
peat moss 0‘9, it will be easily seen that a given quantity of peat has taken 
up in the form of excrementitious matters, solid and liquid, twice as much 
nitrogen as a like quantity of straw. If, however, without regarding this — 
which bears mainly on the economy of the two articles as litter — we regard 
the analyses of the wet manures merely from a purchaser’s point of view, 
we see that in the peat dung there is about the some quantity of organic 
nitrogen as in the straw dung, and two and a half times as much ammoniacal 
and nitric nitrogen — the total nitrogen reckoned as ammonia being l - 07 per 
cent, in the peat dung, against - 74 per cent, in the straw dung. The quantity 
of phosphoric acid is about the same in each, hut the peat manure contains 
nearly twice as much potash, notwithstanding that straw itself is rich in 
potash compared with peat moss. The peat dung is roughly worth some- 
where about 25 per cent, more than the straw manure. 
Bibliography. — In addition to the references which have 
been incidentally made to the bibliography of peat, the follow- 
ing publications deserve to be noticed : — - 
General View of the Agriculture in the County of Cambridge. By C. 
Vancouver. 4to. London. 1794. 
Essays on the Natural History and Origin of Peat Moss : the peculiar 
qualities of the substance ; the means of improving it as a soil ; the methods 
of converting it into a manure ; and the other economical purposes to which 
it may be made subservient. By the Rev. R. Rennie, D.D. 8vo. Edin- 
burgh. 1810. “This work contains much local and general information 
about peat, w-hich was then better known as ‘ moss ’ (from the Celtic Mas), 
whilst the word ‘ peat ’ referred only to the piece dug out for fuel.” 
A Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss-earth, with 
directions for converting it into manure. By William Airton, Writer 
(lawyer), Strathaven, Lanarkshire. 8vo. Ayr. 1811. Classifies the dif- 
ferent sorts found in Biitain as: — (1) Ilill-moss ; on hilltops and hilly 
acclivities, where heather and such mosses as Hgpnum, Bryum, Poly trie hum, 
and Sphagnum form a kind of thin half-peat. (2) Bent-moss, much thicker, 
on the sides and skirts of hills, and composed largely of the coarse grasses 
(bent, &c.) mixed with the usual bog-forming mosses. (3) Flow moss, or 
quakiDg hog, composed chiefly of Sphagnum, filling old lakes, and covering 
overthrown forests. 
Natural and Agricultural History of Teat Moss or Turf Bog, to which 
are annexed corroborative writings, correspondence, and observations on the 
qualities of peat or fen earth as a soil and manure, and on the methods used 
in Scotland for converting moss soils into arable and pasture grounds, 
plantation of trees, &c. By Andrew Steele, Esq. 8vo. Edinburgh. 1826. 
Contains many references to other writers and practical observers, and also 
Professor Robert Jameson’s Observations on Peat. 
On the Turf of the Cambridge Fens. By the Rev. L. Jenyns. Report 
of the British Association, 1846. P. 75. 
On the Formation of Peat in the North of Europe. Lesquereux. 1847. 
Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. iv., Miscel., p. 29. Reference is made to the 
formation of (1) Immersed or Submerged Peat, (2) Emerged or Superjicial 
real, (3) Superjicial Peat sinking to form Bottom Peat. 
Fen Sketches : being a description of the alluvial district known as the 
Great Level of the Fens, with a brief history of its progressive improve- 
