Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-05

TO deposits, and their value, methods
OF preparation for market or uee as
fuel address The Every Evening
Information Bureau, Frederic j Has
kin, director, Washington ID. G,
and enclose n three-cent stamp for
reply.
With the prospect Of another coal
shortage next winter, the peat bogs of The
United. States have become natural
resource Of great potential importance.
The Geological Survey is urging their
development companies are being or
ganized for that purpose, and peat is
already being used to some extent as an
industrial fuel H. is also being uscd MS
fertilizer, stock food. packing material
md antiseptic dressing. In Italy IL
Illuminating gas is being made from IL
| with ammonium slIlphate as by-product,
| and in Germany fibrous peat is being
| used in making cloth
In this country there are enormous
| depoeits of peat within easy reach OF
transportation; while conditions are such
| that IL can be used for several purposes to
great advantage The chief obstacle TO
Development Of this resource Seems 10
| be ignorance Of it. G. G. Osbon Of The
| Geological Survey is conducting cam
| paign TO inform the public as 10 the value
| and location of our peat deposits, and
| inquiries which reach him show n rapidly
| growing interest IN the subject.
Peat might he described as near coal "
| Coal was formed by the decomposition.
| millions Of years ago, of plants under
| water. This decomposition under water
| leaves the carbon Of the plant substance
| intact This carbon, in the case Of coal.
| was subsequently, subjected 10 great heat
| and pressure Peat is simply coal, which
| is beng formed today by the decomposi-
| tion of vegetable matter under water, but
which has not been subjected 10 the heat
| and pressure which makes coal such
| concentrated fuel Peat is q better fuel
| than wood and has about half as much
| fuel value as anthracite coal II may be
| used successfully for many industrial
| purposes and can he successfully burned
| in furnaces adapted 70 the use Of powder
cd coal Other furnaces may require
| notifications for it's use In regions
where it is found it can be supplied 70 the
| consumer for rs cents To 81 30 a ton.
There arc eleven million square miles
| of bog land in the United States which
| include deposits Of peat. and IL is esti-
| mated that they contain twelve billion
| tons Of this fuel These deposits occur IN
| New England and the Great Lakes re-
| gion, as far west as Minnesota, IN New
York, New Jersey, Virginia and Florida
and in ono place in California II IS
especially worthy Of note that peat de-
posits occur IN regions which have no
coal The New England manufacturers
have had the greatest difficulty IN obtain
| ing coal supplies, because none is pro-
duced in that region Yet large deposits
Of an excellent industrial fuel lie within
few miles Of many Of the plants.
The use of peat as fuel in this country
has been limited. heretofore, because Of
| the abundance Of coal, and IL may be
that after the war, when the coal supply
| i. normal, development Of peat bogs will
| be slow But there can be no question,
in the opinion of experts, as To 10 adj
visibility of using peat in this e. rgency
i'm regions which lack nativa aal sup
ply. In this way both coal and transpOrta-
tion can be conserved, and many plants
kept running which might otherwise be
| unable TO obtain fuel.
During 1917 there was some de-
| vcIopment of the peat industry. Eighteen
! plants were at work producing fuel
peat. and other plants were being built.
The total output was nearly 100. 900 short
tons All producers reported that the
demand for peat exceeded the supply
One power plant designed 10 operate
car line in a New England town has
been equipped with peat-burnlng furnaces,
and Is SAID to be satisfactory. Tho Massa-
chusctts Legislature has passed a bill
looking to the development Of the peat
industry in that State \ wholesale
florist in Cromwell, Connecticut, IS
successfully using peat for fuel IN heating
his greenhouses. ard saving much money.
COMPANIES are constantly being organized
for the production Of peat. One of these
Is now studying the peat deposit Ct the
famous Dismal Swamp near Norfolk.
Virginia In this wilderness there are
great deposits Of peat from to p feet
deep
In Europe peat has long been used
both for fucl and for other purposes. 50
that al the process for its production
and use have been perfected. Its use Is
not an experiment.
VALUABLE A. \ FERTILIZER.