PRELIMINARY REPORT ON PEAT. 
291 
not successful, but in the course of the work he accidentally dis¬ 
covered what a peculiar ash the the peat left when burned. He 
brought a sample of this to Mr. Bishop, who began to investigate 
its possibilities, with the result that about 1901 a plant for the 
manufacture of “infusorial earth” was erected on the northern edge 
of this peat prairie, a few hundred feet from the Sanford & Lake 
Eustis division of what is now the Atlantic Coast Line R. R. The 
peat was dug out by hand to a depth of about a foot, conveyed by 
machinery up an incline to the top of the building, and there dumped 
into a machine which pressed out most of the water. From 
this it was taken to a shed and spread out to dry, and afterwards 
burned in a suitable furnace. The product was at first sent to 
England to use in the manufacture of scouring soap. 
When I visited the place in the winter of 1908-9 the plant had 
been idle for a few years, but in the spring of 1909 the property 
was purchased from Mr. Bishop and his associates by the American 
Diatomite Co., of New York, who put in several thousand dol¬ 
lars worth of new buildings and machinery, it is said. 
At only a short distance from the margin of this bog I could 
not reach bottom with 18 feet of sounding-rod, and Mr. Bishop 
informs me that the maximum depth is about 35 feet. 
Some of the “infusorial earth” from this locality was submitted 
by Dr. Davis to Dr. Albert Mann, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture, who indentified in it the following 
species of diatoms: 
Navicula firma tumescens Grunow 
Navicula serians Breb. 
Navicula major Kuetzing 
Eunotia major (W. Smith) Rab- 
Melosira sp■ (very small and rare) 
He notes that the deposit is remarkable for the purity of the 
diatoms, the paucity of forms, and the absence of round forms. 
All are living fresh-water species. 
Analyses of the peat can be found in the table* of analyses, 
under locality No. 4. There are some references to this place in 
the first annual report of this Survey, page 39, 'and the second an¬ 
imal report, pages 158 and 244. 
