THE USES AND PROPERTIES OF PEAT MOSS. 
431 
hide it for their use, and hence it is called 
' Fairy butter.' It is but rarely found in that 
state, and is then treated with great reverence. 
Another property of the peat moss is the sin- 
gularly preservative nature of its water, which 
is of a dark brown colour, almost approaching 
to black. It has been said to contain a tan- 
nin quality, but analysis proves to the con- 
trary. However, its power of preserving 
animal matter from decomposition is very 
extraordinary. Human bodies have been found 
in bogs, undecomposed, which must have been 
long buried." 
Mr. Rogers, it will be seen, assumes that 
peat charcoal is not only valuable in itself as 
a fertilizer, but may be made even more so as 
a fertilizing agent, at the same time that it is 
employed to deodorize and disinfect putrescent 
animal fasces. On this point he observes : — 
" The fact that the health of towns mainly 
or entirely depends upon the almost imme- 
diate removal of their refuse, is at present so 
well understood, that it cannot be requisite to 
enlarge upon it. All are now aware that in 
the ratio of the retention or removal of such 
matter, is the average of life or death ; and 
the question on that score comes upon us now 
in so fearful a form, that it cannot need any 
adjunct to enlist our energies in the cause of 
our own preservation. It is singular, that 
that substance which produces the evil, and 
which has hitherto spread disease amongst us, 
should contain not alone the principles of 
health, but also of wealth; and perhaps it may 
be said that nature^has provided in proportion 
to the mass of beings congregated together, 
the means for their subsistence, in the very 
refuse or matter which we permit, by our 
neglect, to produce so much evil. 
" It has long been known to science, that 
the excretias of mankind contains a greater 
amount of the properties essential to the fer- 
tilization of plants, than any other substance. 
To its most careful preservation and use 
China owes the capability of supporting a 
population almost incredible, with reference 
to the extent of the soil under cultivation ; 
and in the ratio of the introduction of excretise 
as a manure, on the continent of Europe, has 
been the increase of agricultural profit. There 
its use is now almost universal, while we, of 
England, neglect that which, perhaps, as in 
most other things, we should have led the way 
in using. But there have been many diffi- 
culties to contend with in its introduction as 
a mai-ketable fertilizer. 
£i Firstly, — Its collection without annoyance 
and evil. 
" Secondly, — Its deodorization, so as to 
admit of convenient transport. 
" Thirdly, — Its preservation, in a manner 
to retain its valuable qualities as a manure. 
" To obviate these evils several chemical 
deodorizers have been produced, but being 
liquids, the advantages proposed to be ob- 
tained became neutralized by the increased 
difficulty of reducing the matter to a suffici- 
ently dry state for transport. Happily, how- 
ever, nature has provided, by a production of 
the vegetable world, a simple remedy for this 
difficulty, in peat charcoal. It is perhaps the 
greatest absorbent known ; it will take up and 
retain above 80 to 90 per cent, of water, and 
at least 90 or 100 volumes of those noxious 
gases arising from animal excrement and other 
putrescent matter. Hence its great value for 
effecting deodorization, and for retaining all 
the value of the liquid as well as its volatile 
products. 
u Equal parts of prepared peat charcoal and 
excretias will, under almost every circumstance, 
accomplish this if properly intermixed — pro- 
ducing a manure of almost incalculable value. 
The proportion of charcoal may be less in 
some instances, even down to one-third — if 
very intimate mixture be made, and the char- 
coal be properly prepared. 
" This mixture is quite dry, and can be 
transported in bags, or even in bulk, by almost 
any public conveyance. Its value as a manure 
cannot, I believe, be over-estimated. In all 
the trials made with it, both by myself and 
others, the effect is singularly great ; but it 
cannot be otherwise, when we consider what 
the compound contains. Professor Phillips's 
analysis of peat charcoal (the same as on 
the table) for deodorizing purposes, is as fol- 
lows : — 
Carbon 79-24 
Hydrogen 2-20 
Nitrogen - 54 
Oxygen 6-44 
Combustible matter . . 88 42 
Sand and Clay 2*48 
Oxide of Iron 1.66 
Phosphoric Acid - 34 
Silicate of Potash 0'98 
Chloride of Sodium .... 2-53 
Carbonate of Lime 185 
Sulphate of Lime 1-44 
Loss ; 0-30 
Incombustible matter . . 11-58 
100-00 
"Now, add to this, ammonia, gluten, phos- 
phates, urea, &c. contained in human excretias, 
and it will be obvious that it is perhaps im- 
possible to produce a combination more per- 
fectly adapted for the food of plants. All the 
elements for their nurture are interwoven, it 
may be said, into every grain of charcoal ; 
carbon, the staff of vegetation, is the base, 
and the whole are yielded to the plant together. 
It is well known that the strongest affinity 
exists between the ammoniacal and other 
atmospheric gases, and carbon ; and here again 
