Wisconsin State Agricultural Society. 
75 
John Bascomb and Prof. W, W. Daniells, of the State University, 
Geo. E. Morrow, Editor Western Rural, Chicago; Senator Francis 
Campbell, Hon. B. M. Coates, Hon. Delos Abrams, W. Orledge, H. 
W. Roby, Hon. Hanmer Robbins and Prof. T. C. Chamberlain, Be¬ 
loit College. 
PEAT—A CHEAP FUEL IN THE NEAR FUTURE. 
BY W. H. NEWTON, MADISON. 
In presenting the peat deposit of this state, as a substitute for 
wood or imported coal, to supply the people of the populous coun¬ 
ties of this state with fuel, 1 am aware of the prevailing opinion 
that it is impracticable to so utilize peat. Analyzing the local, pecu¬ 
niary and physical causes now demanding a substitute, and 
reviewing the theories and partial experiments upon which this 
prevailing opinion is based, and eliminating the facts applicable to 
new processes and radical changes in forms of prepared peat, 
will solve the question of using peat fuel for this state. Fuel, like 
food, is a prominent element in the economy of human life; a neces¬ 
sity, requiring the same wise forethought and careful consideration 
to supply, as food. 
Wisconsin, not twenty-seven years a state, has exhausted the sup¬ 
ply of available fuel from her forests, compelling one-third of her 
population to import coal, who have heretofore used wood only. 
This is the present situation of the populous southern counties, and 
the towns and cities on Lake Michigan, and the same causes are now 
actively operating to extend this area of coal consumption, as the 
population increases, and the present generation must confront the 
pertinent fact, that our unexplored, undeveloped mineral districts, 
will, in a few years, be alike dependent, but more seriously effected, 
as their products are practically valuable or valueless, as fuel is cheap 
and abundant, or expensive and scarce. 
Statistics show an enormous increase of import of coal annually 
into Milwaukee, and from the best data 1 could obtain, there was 
imported into this state in 1874 500,000 tons of coal, at an aggregate 
cost of $4,000,000. Three million of this was paid to other states, 
and thus becomes an onorous tax, draining the resources of the state 
