Evening star., 1915-11-14
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT Is DOING

in May, 1914. that since 1907 he had en-
were then dead Of tuberculosis.
| Peat, to the average coaI-consuming
American, is strange sort of mud
which the down.
Peat as an In trodden foreig n
dustrial Fuel. esa eea'Ao' do pAass no net.er' en-.
fans into an unwilling flame. Ameri-
cans will come to use it, he believes,
| only in the dim future when the last
ton of coal has been turned into smoke
and ashes.
As matter of fact. peat is so far
| from being the poor mans coal, constd-
ering only its use for fuel. that in Eu-
of dollars make use of it for the gen
Grafton of power. When its uses other
| than as fuel are considered 1t turns
out that the substance Is used in such
| diverse ways as for stock food. fer
tilizer. packing material for fancy
fruits and vegetables. stuffing for mat
tresses. raw material for making paper
and as a medium for mud baths. All
this has been brought out by recent
study of peat production by the United
also that the substance is by no means
unknown or unutiliZed in America.
Peat Is really incipient COAL" the
geological survey points out, and mas
much greater value than is usually
ascribed to it, Extensive deposits oc-
cur in the states along the Atlantic
coast and the Canadian border in just
the area. strangely enough. without
coal deposits. Fourteen peat plants
were in operation in this area when
he nd turning
out more than 47,000 tons of peat an
nually. OF this 81 900 tons was used for
fertilizer or fertilizer filler. 1000 tons
for fuel and more than 1000 tons for
category was peat used for manufac-
turing stock food and paper ana LOT
giving mud baths.
The surprising array of uses to which
peat can be put is due to its character.
1t was originally pure vegetable mat
ter, which. accumulating under water,
has not decomposed as it would have
done in the air, but has been changed
almost into pure carbon. In the Dogs
which are its mines" however. Is
peat of varying stages of transforma-
ton into carbon. In some Of the suo.
stance the vegetable fbers are still
well preserved. 1t Is from peat or TINS
character that paper is made and mat
tresSeS are stuffed.
The coarse fibrous matter IN
somewhat further stage Is USED
for stable bedding. and is. accord
ing to the geological survey. much
better material for the purpose than
either straw or wood shavings. The
finer grades of fbrous peat are used
for packing fruits and vegetables:
1t is also peat of a modified tibrous
TYPE that is used in stock foods 1t
is merely the carrier" for concen-
trated molasses waste whlch py me
combination is made into highly
nutritious and easily digested food
the peat serving in addition as lubri-
cant and tonic.
In spite of the manifold uses to
which peat is put. on small scale IN
the substance still is used chiefly in
the latter country as fuel. 1t is
used after air-drying in blocks. after
artificial drying and grinding in
briquettes and after manufacture into
coke. In the latter process by
products not unlike those from coal
are secured, most valuable of which
are ammonia tars and oils. one OF
the most profitable methods of utiliz-
ing peat has been found in Europe
to be it's distillation in plants erected
at the bogs and the generation Of
electricity from the producer gas" at
such place the piping of the gas
to industrial centers. By-products
can be recovered in the process of pro-
ducing the gas. and numerous old
expenses from the substances saved
in this way and making clear profit
on power.
The geological survey brings out. on
the whole. the fact that the peat in
dustry is well developed in Europe,
where the annual production in recent
years has been about II. 00o. 900 metric
tons. while the possibilities in Amer
ica are Just beginning to be app~eci-
ated. Attention is called to the fact
,1,- n n III
litter was imported last year. and the
suggestion is made that American cap
ital might well go into this phase Of
the industry at once.
+
::
A combination of circumstances in
which an important part has been
played by the Cali
Travel IN the fornia eXpositions.
National Parks. tn the .,nn,as;7a. increased use
the growing tendency Of those of Uncle
Sans citizens who are able to travel
to "see America first has contributed
to bring a knowledge of the national
parks of the west to much larger
number of people during the past sea-
son than ever before. Even the high
figures of 1909, the year of the Seattle
exposition. We're greatly surpassed by
the Yellowstone Park. greatest of the
scenic reservations. while in practi-
cally every other park, where attend
ance has been steadily growing in re-
cent years, the number of visitors dur
ing the season just closed broke all
records
Officials of the Interior Department
believe that the unprecedented food of
visitors to the parks means that a con-
siderable part of the people are at la st
coming to appreciate the governments g
beauty spots and pleasure grounds as
the few have done for years, and that
the stream of sightseers and nature
lovers will grow steadily greater in the
future. Figures just compiled by the
Department of the Interior show that
whereas S0,601 visitors entered the nine
western parks in 1914, the total for the
season just closed was over 10000.
Several factors in connection with the
administration of the parks helped last
season to bring additional visitors, and
they are all influences which call for
further development in the Interior De-
partment's program. The Rocky Noun
tain National Park. just west of Den
yer, was opened for the first time and
added 10000 visitors to the total. Still
further additions either to the parks
or their areas are probable during the
coming year and are certainty with
in the next few seasons
Most of the parks were opened to au-
tomobiles two years ago and have been
gaming popularity among motorists
since. Last summer the policy was ex-
tended to the great Yellowstone Park
ana resulted in an addition of thou
sands of visitors. From August /, when
cars We're first admitted, until the end
OF the season, approximately 1000 ma