CONTENTS.

Introduction[vii]
[PART I.]—Origin, Varieties, and Chemical Characters of Peat.
PAGE
1.What is Peat?[9]
2.Conditions of its Formation[9]
3.Different Kinds of Peat[14]
Swamp Muck[17]
Salt Mud[18]
4.Chemical Characters and Composition of Peat[18]
a.Organic or combustible part[19]
Ulmic and Humic Acids[19]
Ulmin and Humin—Crenic and Apocrenic Acids[20]
Ulmates and Humates[21]
Crenates and Apocrenates[22]
Gein and Geic Acid—Elementary Composition of Peat[23]
Ultimate Composition of the Constituents of Peat[25]
b.Mineral Part—Ashes[25]
5.Chemical Changes that occur in the Formation of Peat[26]
[PART II.]—On the Agricultural Uses of Peat and Swamp Muck.
1.Characters that adapt Peat for Agricultural Use[28]
A.Physical or Amending Characters[28]
I.Absorbent Power for Water, as Liquid and Vapor[31]
II.Absorbent Power for Ammonia[32]
III.Influence in Disintegrating the Soil[34]
IV.Influence on the Temperature of Soils[37]
B.Fertilizing Characters[38]
I.Fertilizing Effects of the Organic Matters, excluding Nitrogen[38]
1.Organic Matters as Direct Food to Plants[38]
2.Organic Matters as Indirect Food to Plants[40]
3.Nitrogen, including Ammonia and Nitric Acid[42]
II.Fertilizing Effects of the Ashes of Peat[46]
III.Peculiarities in the Decay of Peat[50]
IV.Comparison of Peat with Stable Manure[51]
2.Characters of Peat that are detrimental, or that need correction[54]
I.Possible Bad Effects on Heavy Soils[54]
II.Noxious Ingredients[55]
a.Vitriol Peats[55]
b.Acidity—c. Resinous Matters[57]
3.Preparation of Peat for Agricultural Use[57]
a.Excavation[57]
b.Exposure, or Seasoning[59]
c.Composting[62]
Compost with Stable Manure[63]
Compost with Night Soil[68]
Compost with Guano[69]
Compost with Fish and other Animal Matters[70]
Compost with Potash-lye & Soda-ash; Wood-ashes, Shell-marl, Lime[72]
Compost with Salt and Lime Mixture[73]
Compost with Carbonate of Lime, Mortar, etc.[75]
4.The Author's Experiments with Peat Composts[77]
5.Examination of Peat with reference to its Agricultural Value[81]
6.Composition of Connecticut Peats[84]
Method of Analysis[86]
Tables of Composition[88-89-90]
[PART III].—On Peat as Fuel
1.Kinds of Peat that Make the Best Fuel[92]
2.Density of Peat[95]
3.Heating Power of Peat as Compared with Wood and Anthracite[96]
4.Modes of Burning Peat[102]
5.Burning of Broken Peat[103]
6.Hygroscopic Water of Peat-fuel[104]
7.Shrinkage[105]
8.Time of Excavation and Drying[105]
9.Drainage[106]
10.Cutting of Peat for Fuel—a. Preparations for Cutting[107]
b.Cutting by Hand; with Common Spade; German Peat Knife[108]
Cutting with Irish Slane—System employed in East Friesland[109]
c.Machines for Cutting Peat; Brosowsky's Machine; Lepreux's Machine[113]
11.Dredging of Peat[115]
12.Moulding of Peat[116]
13.Preparation of Peat-fuel by Machinery, etc[116]
A.Condensation by Pressure[116]
a.Of Fresh Peat[116]
Mannhardt's Method[117]
The Neustadt Method[119]
b.Of Air-dried Peat—Lithuanian Process[120]
c.Of Hot-dried Peat—Gwynne's Method; Exter's Method[121]
Elsberg's Process[125]
B.Condensation without Pressure[127]
a.Of Earthy Peat[128]
Challeton's Method, at Mennecy, France[128]
Challeton's Method, at Langenberg, Prussia[130]
Roberts' Method, at Pekin, N. Y.[132]
Siemens' Method, at Bœblingen, Wirtemberg[134]
b.Condensation of Fibrous Peat—Weber's Method; 135 Hot-drying Gysser's Method and Machine[140]
c.Condensation of Peat of all Kinds—Schlickeysen's Machine[144]
Leavitt's Peat Mill, Lexington, Mass[146]
Ashcroft & Betteley's Machine[148]
Versmann's Machine, Great Britain[150]
Buckland's Machine, Great Britain[151]
14.Artificial Drying of Peat[152]
15.Peat Coal[157]
16.Metallurgical Uses of Peat[162]
17.Peat as a Source of Illuminating Gas[165]
18.Examination of Peat with regard to its Value as Fuel[167]

INTRODUCTION.

In the years 1857 and 1858, the writer, in the capacity of Chemist to the State Agricultural Society of Connecticut, was commissioned to make investigations into the agricultural uses of the deposits of peat or swamp muck which are abundant in this State; and, in 1858, he submitted a Report to Henry A. Dyer, Esq., Corresponding Secretary of the Society, embodying his conclusions. In the present work the valuable portions of that Report have been recast, and, with addition of much new matter, form Parts I. and II. The remainder of the book, relating to the preparation and employment of peat for fuel, &c., is now for the first time published, and is intended to give a faithful account of the results of the experience that has been acquired in Europe, during the last twenty-five years, in regard to the important subject of which it treats.

The employment of peat as an amendment and absorbent for agricultural purposes has proved to be of great advantage in New-England farming.

It is not to be doubted, that, as fuel, it will be even more valuable than as a fertilizer. Our peat-beds, while they do not occupy so much territory as to be an impediment and a reproach to our country, as they have been to Ireland, are yet so abundant and so widely distributed—occurring from the Atlantic to the Missouri, along and above the 40th parallel, and appearing on our Eastern Coast at least as far South as North Carolina[1]—as to present, at numberless points, material, which, sooner or later, will serve us most usefully when other fuel has become scarce and costly.

The high prices which coal and wood have commanded for several years back have directed attention to peat fuel; and, such is the adventurous character of American enterprise, it cannot be doubted that we shall rapidly develop and improve the machinery for producing it. As has always been the case, we shall waste a vast deal of time and money in contriving machines that violate every principle of mechanism and of economy; but the results of European invention furnish a safe basis from which to set out, and we have among us the genius and the patience that shall work out the perfect method.