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Show x Peat: an Undeveloped Resource By Frederic J. Haskin. t T WASHINGTON. Peat bogs of the United Unit-ed 8tu4.es have become a natural resource of great potential importance. The geological geo-logical survey is urging: their development, develop-ment, companies are being" organized for that purpose, and peat is already being used to some extent as an industrial fuel. Tt U .also being- used as fertilizer, stock food, packing material and antiseptic dressing. Infc Italy illuminating' gas is being made from it with ammonium sulphate sul-phate as a by-product, and in Germany fibrous peat is being used in making cloth. In this country there are enormous deposits de-posits of peat within easy reach of transportation; trans-portation; while conditions are such that it can be used for several purposes to great advantage. The chief obstacle to development of this resource seems to be ignorance of it. C. C. Oslxm of the geological geo-logical survey is conducting a campaign to inform the public as to the value and location of our peat deposits, and inquiries inquir-ies which reach him show a rapidly growing grow-ing interest in the subject. Peat might be described as "near coal." Coal was formed by the decomposition, millions of years ago. of plants under water. This decomposition under water leaves the carbon of the plant substance intact. This carbon, in the case of coal, was subsequently subjected io gfe-at heat and pressure. Peat is simply coal which is being formed today by the. decomposition decomposi-tion of vegetable matter under water, but which has not been subjected to the heat and pressure which makes coal such a concentrated fuel. Feat is a better fuel I than wood, and has about half as mucYi fuel value as anthracite coal. U may , be used successfully for many industrial 1 pui poses, and can be successfully burned in furnaces adapted to the use of pow-' pow-' dered coal. Other furnaces jtikv require' 1 modifications for ils use. In regions where it is found it can be supplied to the consumer for 7f eentH to $u.5Q a ton. 1 There are eleven million square ndles of bog land in the T'nited States which include deposits of pent, and it is -st i -mated that they contain twelve billion tons of this fuel. These deposits occur in New lin gland nnd the Creat Lakes region, re-gion, as far west as Minnesota, in New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Florida, and in one place in California. It is especially es-pecially worthy of note that peat deposits de-posits occur in regions which have no coal. The New England manufacturers have had the greatest difficulty in obtaining ob-taining coal supplies, because none is produced pro-duced in that region. Yet large deposits of an excellent industrial fuel lie within a few miles of many of the plants. During 1917 there was some development develop-ment of the pent industry. Eighteen plants were at work producing fuel pi;at, and other plants were being built. The ; total output was nearly 100,000 short tons. All producers reported that the demand for peat exceeded the supply. One power plant designed to operate a car line in a New England town has been equipped with peat-burning furnaces, and is said to be satisfactory. The Massachusetts legislature leg-islature has passed a bill looking to the development of the peat industry In that state. A wholesale florist in Croniw ell. Conn., is successfully using peat for fm:l In heating his greenhouses, and saving much money. Companies are constantly being organized for the production of peat. One Of these is now studying the peat deposit. of the famous Dismal swamp near Norfolk, Va. In this wilderness there are great deposits of peat from seven to twenty-five feet deep. The vulue of peat as a fertilizer Is scarcely secondary to Its Viilue as fuel In the present emergency. The fertilizing ! material most seriously needed every where in the world is nitrogen. The fertility fer-tility of soil cannot be maintained without with-out this element. This is niiv (hp ni trate deposits of Chile are of such great Importance; why the government ha.s , taken control of all the ammonium sulphate sul-phate in the country, and why all of the principal nations are erecting plants for the manufacture of nitrogen from the air. Mar. cannot live without nitrogen. Peat contains about 2 per cent of nitrogen, ni-trogen, and has other constituents which are of value as plant food. Furthermore, It is a congenial home for what are called the nitrifying bacteria. These are microscopic creatures which live In tho soli, and by their activities obtain nitrogen nitro-gen fi-om the air, which then combines with the soil. There is a company in the United fcjtntes which is inn king fertilizer fer-tilizer from peat by plncing these nitrifying nitrify-ing bacteria In it. This bacterized peat is a very valuable fertilizer, and there should be a large development nlong these lines, as the peat bogs constitute the one groat. Inexpensive source of nitrogen ni-trogen available to tho farmers of this country. Peat has a special value as fertilizer in sandy soils and in arid countries, been line of its great affinity for water. The water cannot be extracted from peat in any way except by a long, slow process. Its tenacity in holding moisture is truly remarkable, re-markable, for leas than 2') per o-nt of the water in peat can be extracted by the moct powerful hydraulic press. Owing to certain acids In Us composition, composi-tion, peat has antiseptic and preservative preserva-tive qualities. This Is illustrated by the fact that human bodies have been dug out of peat bogs, which were intact even to their clothing, and this latter was often In the style of another age. Flhrous peat, formed of grasses and sedges, has textile value. TL is known that the (Jprmans are making a cloth by mixing this fibrous peat with wool, and at one lime a factory in this country mad a coarse paper out of peat. This factory failed som" y ? ao ht-oa usr i ; could not compete with the pulp factoring, but If il ,vor doing busings today It oir-TM I to pro-pc. iVA drr -I p.ar is an v-ipiu pai-kinq material, and is especially valuable for the shipping of perishable fruits. Perhaps the most surprising use to which peat may be put is that of stock food. For this purpose it is not used alone, but is mixed with viscid waste from sugar mills. This waste matter contains con-tains much nourishment, but if fed to stock alone it makes them sick, while mixed with peat it is a digestible food. The peat ad da a small amount of nutritive nutri-tive value In the form of various proteins. |
