MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
1 05 
country, and are not wanting in the south, should be mentioned. Many 
of these would furnish what would be practically an inexhaustible supply 
of fuel, at a very low cost, to a manufacturing plant located on their borders, 
the chief cost being that of installing the machinery for preparing the peat, 
after which the only expenses would be those incidental to harvesting the fuel. 
At one place visited by the writer not long ago, a small factory was located, 
almost ideally on the edge of a large, fully cleared deposit of excellent peat, 
but using coal shipped several hundred miles by rail. 
A word regarding the causes to which may be attributed, in part at least, 
the failure of the many of the peat fuel plants which have been started, 
aside from those already mentioned. The most potent cause for the failure 
of some, aside from those inherent in the process itself, has been the adoption 
of the briquetting process, with peat which was not adapted to such a process. 
In other cases, perhaps the majority, bad arrangement of the plant has 
contributed much to the lack of success. It has not seemed duly to impress 
the builders of such plants, that in handling wet peat, freshly dug from the 
bog, there was nine times as much water as peat thrown out, moved about, 
and carted to the factory, and often there is no definite arrangement for 
conveying the wet material which was dug, to its destination, except wheel- 
barrows or carts. By such arrangements the cost of production per ton of 
dried fuel is raised far above what it should be, considering the possible 
price after it is dry. 
Another cause of failure has seemed to be the lack of a provision of suffi- 
cient drying space and proper division of the work. Similar to these diffi- 
culties were the attempts made with presses which were too large for the 
rest of the equipment, so that just as the press was running nicely, the supply 
of peat would give out and all hands would be obliged to go out after more, 
and, in the meantime, the press would stop, the steam go down, and, when 
a new run was begun, there would be tedious and costly waits before the 
machinery would run smoothly again. 
Other causes, such as distance from railroad station, lack of knowledge 
and experience on the part of the owners, and too small capital to carry the 
plant through the experimental stages of development, have been operative, 
but those first mentioned are the ones most manifest to the casual observer. 
The remark of a shrewd business man, when asked by the writer not long ago 
if a peat fuel factory in his neighborhood was a success, is to the point: He 
said “ He didn’t know about the success, but he didn’t think much of a busi- 
ness which took all the week to make enough product to take to market on 
Saturday in a two-horse wagon.” 
The opportunities for the development of other than the fuel industry 
from our peat bogs, seem to be even greater than those which lie in that 
direction. Already there is a peat paper factory in operation, with an assured 
output of a superior grade of paste-board, which is sold far ahead of the 
present time. The manufacture of peat litter as bedding for stables is also 
established in at least one place in Indiana, and the bogs where other fac- 
tories might be located are numerous, in various parts of the country, and, 
judging from the reports which are given by those who have used this material, 
it is superior to all others now in use for this purpose. It should, in these days, 
find a ready sale to dairy farmers, and to horse owners in cities, to help them 
keep down the odors in their barns, as it is an efficient deodorizer, besides 
being cheaper and better bedding than straw. 
Another growing industry based on peat, and one which has thus far proved 
a success from the start, is the manufacture of peat into ‘'filler” for artificial 
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