The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-05-17
From the Hartford Times.
Peat.


We learn that number of distinguished
railroad aud business men have bought W
all the peat beds contiguous to the line OF
the Hartford and New Haven railroad, with
a view to the substitution of peat for coal. al
a fuel for locomotives. They propose tc
use the machine known as Leavitt & Hun
newells, of Boston, in the preparation OF
the peat. That it is better than coal for this
purpose, no longer admits Of question.
The fact is abundant!y demonstrated in
Great Britain
1t has been known for some time that a
company has been organized here to carry
on the business of peat-making. 1t is call
ed the Connecticut Peat Company, and J.
Il. Ranney is the president They have
taken large peat bed in West Hartford,
bought the right of the Leavitt & Hunne-
well machine fer Connecticut, and expect
to be very soon in the market with peat for
warming your houses, cooking your din.
ners, running your engines, and even max
ing your gaslight, at rates much cheaper
than anything now afforded by coal of any
kind
The experiments made last year on some
of the railroads in Great Britain prove very
! tageously substituted for coal OH the loco
motive. That it is also actually equal, if
net really superior, to the best charcoal it
self for melting iron ole. and for pudding
iron, has been demonstrated with equal GER
tainty. The iron thus produced is tougher,
finer, more malleable, freer from flaws, than
any other. By this use of peat, iron from
English mines of admitted inferiority to the
famous Old Hill mine in Salisbury, Conpect-
lieut., and the equally celebrated Swedish
charcoa! iron, has been produced of quail
ty equal TO either.
How is this peat for fire in the CRATE, or
for cooking? In all cases where it has
been properly prepared, it is found to burn
equally well in coalstove, wood-stove. or
fire place. and to make a very pleasant fire,
with more flame than coal makes and it
leaves no cinders. Its freedom from, sui
phur renders it far less destructive than ann
tbracite coal to the iron bars Of the CRATE.
A stove lasts much longer with peat. This
freedom from sulphur, a point of the first
Importance i'll the selection of fuel for the
reduction of iron ores, is also weighty
consideration with the railroadmen whose
experiences with the destructive action of
anthracite on their engines have made them
shy of that fuel.
The company of which we have spoken,
the Connecticut Peat Company has capt.
tai Of $50, 900, all of which has been sub
scribed, iii $25 share. Though but one in
stament has been paid, of SO, there have
been sales of the stock at $40 share 1t
is calculated that the first instalment al
ready called in will cover all the working
av NJ ba Loo e
rights for the use of the machine to produce
an income that will warrant divadend be-
fore they have made any peat That there
is likely to be demand for the machine
may be judged by the fact that the Hart
fort and New Haven road has bought up
the peat boys adjacent to its line: that an
association of gentlemen have purchased all
the available peat-beds in the Naugatuck
valley, organized company, and ordered a
machine; that Horace Wilcox, the presi
dent of the Meriden Britannia Company
has bought the right for that town and will
put in operation three of the machines );
that Vim. Fl. Starr has bought the right
for New London County. and that joint
stock company will be formed in New Lon
don to carry on the business that a com
pany is also organizing in New Haven, and
another iii Waterbury
The discoveries of the more important
uses of peat are recent, though its use, in
an iinperfectly prepared form, has for a
long time been known in various parts of
Europe and in this country. 1t is found to
contain rich supply of the carboniferous
oil of which our common illuminating gas
is made, and is pronounced equal in thai re
spect, pound for pound, to gas coal. 1t al
so produces rosin and some paraffine Its
analysis shows but 5 per cent. of ashes, and
80 of carbon.
Its value over all other fuel with the
possible exception of charcoaD in the snlelt
ing of iron ores and also in the pudding of
iron is demonstrated extensively in por-
tions of Germany, and in England. Its
value for the ordinary purposes of fuel in
our houses promises to be even more inn
portant.
1, cnmes in good time. Coal has been
unreasonably expensive; and good article
Of peat. that can be used in the stove, the
CRATE, the old fire place., or under a steam
boiler, at prices far below those extorted for
coal after making every allowance for the
relative capacity Of tie two articles will be
generally used Peat keeps live coal till
for cooking Its Importance in mechanic
arts is likely to be extensive 1t already
finds favor in this city for the process of
melting gold; in Meriden it is pronounced
a success in working steel while its use in
annealing, is proved by the superiority of
the wire made at Woscester by means Of
peat
The paper read last year before tue Brit
! n
ish Association by Civil Engineer Clark Of
London contains important facts relative to
peat. large establishment is engaged in
making it in England, and its trial on two
Of the British railways proved that it main
/ tanned higher and better head of steam
than coal did, that better time was made,
and that, pound for pound, it was saving
both of time aud money to use peat in loco
motives.
The machine of which we have spoken
may be worked by steam or other power.
Its cost may be, perhaps. $500. Itreceives
the crude peat just as it is taken from the
bog, condenses it, and i'll very few min
utes delivers it in the form of bricks, which
may then be exposed in the open air or uu-
der shelter to dry or cure.
There are vast beds of peat in New Eng
land and New York, and it behooves ouI
farmers to avail themselves of it, and thus
while turning Improbable land to ac
count, preserve their forests, which are now
rapidly used up for fuel, till better uses car
be found for them.
RESPECTIVE AGES OF THE SENATOR'S OF TIL
i THIRTY NINTH CONGRESS Kirk wood SO
Creswell So, Williams 43, Cragin As YATES
4S, Guthre%4 Norton 81, Steward SO,
Johnson 70, Nye SO, Lane, H. s. 81, Buck
alew 40, Brown 40, CONFESS A, Van Win