Peat is the organic matter or vegetable soil of bogs, swamps and
marshes—decayed mosses, coarse grasses, etc. The peat next the
surface, less advanced in decomposition, is light, spongy and fibrous,
of a yellow or light reddish-brown color; lower down it is more
compact, of a darker-brown color, and in the lowest strata it is of a
blackish brown, or almost a black color, of a pitchy or unctuous feel.
Peat in its natural condition generally contains from 75 to 80 per
cent. of water. It sometimes amounts to 85 or 90 per cent. in which
case the peat is of the consistency of mire.
When wet peat is milled or ground so that the fibre is broken, crushed
or cut, the contraction in drying is much increased by this treatment;
and the peat becomes denser, and is better consolidated than when
it is dried as it is cut from the bog; peat so prepared is known as
_condensed_ peat, and the degree of condensation varies according to
the natural heaviness of the peat. So effectively is peat consolidated
and condensed by the simple process of breaking the fibres whilst wet,
that no merely mechanical force of compression is equal to it.
In the table the elements of peat are presented in two conditions. One
perfectly dried into a powder before analyzing and the other with 25
per cent. of moisture.
The value of peat as a fuel of the future is an interesting problem in
view of the numerous inroads made upon our great natural coal fields.