102 
TENTH REPORT. 
without having marketed a ton of fuel with profit. It is not necessary to 
give a list of these experiments here, for, after a careful enquiry throughout 
the country east of the Mississippi, during the summer of 1907, the writer 
found but a single place where peat fuel was to be had as needed, namely, 
of the Commercial Artificial Fuel Company of Toledo, Ohio, whose plant 
was running and who were ready to contract to furnish a good quality of peat 
fuel in lots to suit the purchaser, at a reasonable price. 
If the problem of developing an industry, or a number of industries from 
the peat deposits of the country is to be solved in a satisfactory way, it must 
be borne in mind that peat is not a single, simple substance, always uniform 
in all of its properties, but one which is not only very variable in character- 
istics, over wide areas, but which also may vary in a marked degree in the 
same deposit. In fact, variability must be expected in the mo t common 
type of bog, because of the way in which the peat has been formed, and 
throughout the region where peat deposits are most numerous, it is rather 
rare to find the material of the same structure from top to bottom of the 
beds, and in the very deep beds, this is still rarer. 
The variations in the properties of peat are both physical and chemical, 
and are of such nature that they cannot be considered here in detail ; but, 
in general, it may be pointed out that peat varies from light brown to black 
in color, from the texture of a loosely felted fabric to a compact, solid sub- 
stance, nearly like lignite or coal when dry, and varies as greatly in weight 
and plasticity, cohesiveness and in fuel value, as in other properties; it is 
probable that there are some definite relations between these variations in 
many cases, but not in all, by any means, and the reason for calling atten- 
tion at all to them here is to point out the fact that no single industry can 
use all kinds equally well. For example, some types of peat, though low 
in ash, and having a high fuel value, are so light in weight, so poorly de- 
composed and so unplastic, that they make a very bulky, friable, and quick- 
burning fuel, which cannot be shipped any distance, or handled without 
much waste. Such peats, at best, are hard to work, and it is doubtful if 
they should ever be used for any except most local markets for fuel, and 
if a deposit of such peat is made the basis of large investment, for the purpose 
of developing a fuel industry, to supply distant markets, it is almost 
certain to fail to meet the anticipations of its projectors. 
On the other hand, such peat might well meet the requirements of some 
other industry, in an almost ideal way, and be profitably worked from the 
beginning of the enterprise. 
One of the most potent reasons which has appeared to account for the 
failure of the many attempts to establish a peat fuel industry in this country 
has been the apparent ignoring this primary fact, namely, that the peat 
selected for exploitation was not adapted to the purpose for which it was 
decided to use it, nor to the type of machinery which was installed for its 
manufacture. Errors of this sort, however, are such as are likely to beset 
the path to success in any new and untried field of industry, and, while 
causing much discouragement and some serious financial losses, serve to 
stimulate the more persistent to renewed and more carefully directed efforts, 
and, at the same time, act as beacons to warn later comers to proceed more 
thoughtfully, if they would safely pass over such dangers. 
Fundamental questions at this stage of the discussion should be: Are 
there opportunities in this country, such as occur abroad, to develop indus- 
tries based on the utilization of peat as raw material? Are the conditions 
such that this material which occurs so widely spread and in such quantities, 
