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THE USES AND PROPERTIES OF PEAT MOSS. 
THE USES AND PROPERTIES OF PEAT MOSS, 
PEAT CHARCOAL. 
AND THE VALUE OF 
Charcoal has been long known to possess 
considerable merit as a fertilizer, although it 
has not attracted much public attention till 
within the last few years. We do not here 
open the inquiry as to how charcoal acts be- 
neficially on the soil, but assume the fact as 
now abundantly attested by experience. It 
would appear, that, whatever the value of 
wood charcoal may be in this respect, (and 
past experience speaks for the most part of 
this form of charcoal,) that of charcoal made 
from peat moss is much greater. 
At a meeting of the Botanical Society of 
London, on the 8th of July, the subject was 
introduced by Jasper W. Rogers, Esq., C. E., 
who exhibited various samples of the charcoal 
in different states, and well adapted for cul- 
tural purposes. Mr. Rogers says : — 
" Peat charcoal possesses several advantages 
over wood charcoal. The small quantity of 
pyroligneous acid originally contained in the 
peat is entirely dispersed in the preparation ; 
hence, no acetic odour arises, which is com- 
plained against in wood charcoal, and produces 
severe headache. Again, its light and pure 
blaze gives a greater extent of calorific effect, 
because it extends itself generally over the 
surface to be heated, and carries with it no 
smoke. Peat charcoal emits a blaze, which 
wood charcoal does not. But one of its great 
advantages is the power of fertilization in its 
individual state. 
■ " In the year 1845, I first brought the fact 
under the consideration of the Relief Com- 
missioners of Ireland, in a report I was called 
upon to make upon the subject of peat fuel. 
The theory was then smiled at, both by scien- 
tific men and scientific bodies ; but it has 
happily outlived opposition. The Royal Agri- 
cultural Society offered a prize the following 
year for the best essay on the subject; 
and now, a great number of farmers save 
every bramble from their hedges to make 
charcoal, and by drilling it in with their seeds, 
produce great advantage to the crops. 
" But I would draw special attention to that 
which I deem to be the main and grand ad- 
vantage which peat charcoal possesses in so 
singular a degree, namely, that of perfectly 
deodoriz'mg and disinfecting anivial excretice. 
I say, peat charcoal, because the same capa- 
bility does not exist in wood charcoal gene- 
rally, and in several descriptions, not at all ; 
for instance, the charcoal of lignum vitse, teak, 
and hard oak, has, in fact, no deodorizing 
power. This capability increases as the wood 
becomes softer and more porous, and that 
which I have found to have most effect, is the 
charcoal of the willow. In addition to peat I 
charcoal, specially prepared for deodorizing, 
being infinitely more porous than that of 
wood, it perhaps contains some other property 
not yet discovered, for I have no hesitation 
in saying we are all, as yet, strangers to its 
eminently useful powers, and that it is a sub- 
ject particularly worthy of investigation." 
For fertilizing purposes, the charcoal pre- 
pared from the peat in an uncompressed state 
appears to be best adapted, although a more 
dense material can be obtained. Indeed, by 
a particular process, "the density of peat 
charcoal can be made to exceed that of wood 
charcoal. It is only to make the peat as dense 
as wood, to produce equal density in charcoal ; 
and this is very simply done by exhausting 
the chamber in which the piece of peat is 
compressed, at the same instant that the com- 
pression commences. The atmospheric air 
being withdrawn from beneath, the aqueous 
matter must follow, and rush into the air- 
pump ; the resistance, therefore, presented to 
the power of pressure, is simply the fibre of 
the peat ; while the vacuum produced under- 
neath gives the aid of the natural pressure of 
the atmosphere, at top, to assist the operation. 
Thus, the imaginary difficulty of producing 
dense charcoal from peat has been over- 
come — so simply, that it is only to be won- 
dered at that it had not been done long since. 
The present market value of peat charcoal 
varies from 41. to even 8/. or 91. per ton, the 
latter being the average price of wood char- 
coal sold in London for culinary purposes ; it 
may be sold with large profit for much less." 
" In its natural state, peat moss has several 
peculiarities. It delights in moisture, and 
yields it up most unwillingly. It contains, 
in different small proportions, ammonia, pjTo- 
ligneous acid, tar, &c., and also a very singular 
production, a 'fatty matter,' which, when pu- 
rified, closely resembles spermaceti, and makes 
a very beautiful candle. Mr. Reece Reece has 
recently patented a process for the extraction 
of these articles, carrying out the production 
of iron from ore which is upon the property. 
Possibly ' Price's patent wax candle' may 
yet be rivalled by ' Recce's bog spermaceti.' 
To speak seriously, the production is really 
beautiful, and gives a pure and strong light. 
The question to be solved, however, is, Can it 
be obtained in sufficient quantity to be pro- 
fitable ? It is found in its natural state, at 
times, in small quantities collected together 
by some peculiar local filtration, or, perhaps, 
affinity, which draws it from the mass around 
to one spot. The matter, when pure, is about 
the colour of butter. The superstitious tra- 
dition of the peasantry is, that the Fairies 
