The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1880-02-28
The Use Of Peat fer Fuel.


Peat when free from sand MI,
very good fuel, giving out oress d
and when covered with ashes 49,.
slow combustion for a lone t;rss
burning, it emits sweet-scentsj
which is very pleasant as Il a ~.
the breeze to the passing trave]er !!
only fault is that the ashes are ia.
are easily waited by very liof5 =
of air from the fireplace into he ~.
But what is there of ali the usefnI ~
which nature has provided US with Is
has not some drawback in the ns;.s
it? Efforts have been made tn NJ
peat for fuel in this country for ths =.
poses of smelling iron and ir;cs
der locomotive boilers; but VIII ,
have coal and wood SO cheap and :.
lily available, the vast beds of peat "a
exist will probably remain dor
except for private household uses n
peat for the purposes above men6o.
was compressed by powerful mscbis-
into hard, solid masses not unlike y
w. Va, splint coal, or the brown !.
known as the Ignite which is conn.
in the far Northwest. But peat m,s \
prepared for fuel with very little trosp'
In Ireland, Scotland, Wales and -
of England, where there are exfss;
boys or peat swamps, the peat Is ~
in systematic but very simple fssbjn
follows: The moss and sedcee -
the upper layer Of the peat, ~
moved by sharp-edged spades, MA
brown, fibrous peat, which alone -
for fuel, is laid bare. This Is a.
into blocks about nine inches lon,
wide and six inches thick, with :
called skean. This is like a spsde =
upturned sides, and all the edges ~
sharp. As the tool Is thrust down 2
the peat, it cuts out . block Of IL
above mentioned. These are pilo1
in perpendicular ranks, like thor
bricks in brick-yard, to dry. In
ing, they shrink to about two incbuI
thickness and somewhat less in len
and width than when first cut. n
blocks, or ''turfs," Us they are ca
when dry, form the only fuel Of thou
of persons who live on the poor I
small tracts of land (not to Be q
farms) that we are now readinr
much about In connection with ~
tress in Ireland. They are also PEI
about the streets of large towns y
cities adjacent to tracts Of peat ard u
and are used there for summer IL
wealthy homes and to make an ae1uu
BILE and cheerful fire on chilly -
evenings, as they are kindled m
and give fierce, glowing hest -
burning.
There are thousands of acres Of =
full peat in thousands Of localhia
America, which might be made VI
valuable as fuel. In the prairie reGir
peat is plentiful, and as one goes Tut
north into the treeless regions d
North Pacific Railroad, there are IL
peat swamps of hundreds of acres w
have millions of tons of peat IN ~
The best peat lies deep in the svs4
below the upper layer, which has IN
black and pasty by decomposiion.
is the fibrous, brown matter that M
the best fuel, as it is tough and ~
drying and handling and does MOI =
down, so to speak, into powder, =
black upper layer does. Once pei
comes dry it is practically indegEu1
BILE, and if left in a heap soon DE-
poses and breaks down; SO that b
ing the blocks, it is necessary that 4
be piled with wide open joints bolxl
them and the pile made not over
feet wide, SO as to give free passee
the air. The pile IS also covoref
the coarse weeds of the swamp % =
rain. Lastly, frost is the great q
tegrator. and peat for fuel should ~
only in the summer time; Il cut =
winter the frost would soon redpoe ,
powder.-hof. II. Stewart. % 2
Mem YOrker-