Peat

pet, a turf-like material formed in morasses by the accumulation of dead vegetable matter. In the northern part of the world peat comes chiefly from a sphagnum moss that grows in moist bogs or in regions of frequent fog. This moss grows green on the surface, but dies beneath and packs down without actual decay into a fibrous mass of indefinite depth according to the age of the morass. In warmer climes peat is also produced by aquatic plants. The peat of India is produced by an accumulation of the stalks of wild rice. It is supposed that lignite and coal were produced under circumstances that covered peat beds with soil and subjected them to immense pressure and intense heat. It is difficult to drain a peat bog. The moss holds water like a sponge.

Peat is distributed widely. South American peat formed of rushes may be mentioned. The Siberian tundras, northern Germany, Russia, and Scandinavia have extensive deposits of peat. Large bogs exist in Yorkshire. Scotland has extensive beds. Covenanter stories are always connected with moss hags and moss troopers. One-twelfth of the surface of Ireland is covered with peat bogs, giving rise to the term "bog trotters." North America, from the latitude of New England and Minnesota far up northward and northwestward to the Arctic Ocean, has enormous beds of peat.

Peat is not infrequently used in the construction of huts after the manner of our sod houses, but its chief use is as fuel. Millions of people use no other material for cooking and heating. Peat bogs, now sources of fuel, were in most cases drained long ago. They have an appearance not unlike brown stone quarries. The spongy nature of peat causes it to hold enough water to prevent deterioration. The peat is removed in sections from the top clear to the bottom, as in a stone quarry. It is cut into brick-like sods or peats or turfs by a thin, long, sharp peat spade. It is then carried ashore and set on edge to dry. It is then put under cover for later use. An excessively rainy season interferes with the drying of peat and may cause serious disasters. A countryside without dry peat is without fire. Wet peat, whether thawed or frozen, is useless. In European districts where peat is the ordinary fuel a lease of a field carries with it the privilege of cutting peat. The man of the house, or very likely the grandfather, gets into the pit with his long spade and, with a skill born of experience, cuts out thin sods of great regularity. The women and children of the family carry the peats to dry land. To cut, take ashore, dry, carry home, and stock away a supply of peats is a regular part of the peasant family's summer work. Whether the peat beds of North America are inferior, or whether wood and coal are too plenty and cheap, very little American peat is used. A number of attempts have been made with the expenditure of large sums of money to convert peat into briquettes by hydraulic pressure, but the cost of compressing and drying has so far exceeded the value of the fuel produced that the undertaking has been unprofitable.

Peat burns with a fine glow and makes quite a lasting fire. As might be expected from the amount of soil and dust likely to light on a bog, the amount of ashes is large. Wet peat has the power of resisting decay and of preserving both animal and woody tissues for a long time. Oak trees are found in bogs, where they have lain a thousand years apparently, as well preserved as though they had not fallen fifty years ago. The bodies of soldiers swallowed up in bogs have been found, it is claimed, in a state of good preservation centuries afterward. When well drained and treated with lime or ordinary soil to start decomposition peat bogs become fields of extraordinary fertility.