Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and FuelJohnson, Samuel W. (Samuel William)
Science
Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and Fuel
Johnson, Samuel W. (Samuel William)
Fertilizers; Fuel; Peat
Beech wood, split, air dry 1.00
Peat, condensed by Weber's & Gysser's method,[15] air-dried,
with 25 _per cent._ moisture. 1.00
Peat, condensed by Weber's & Gysser's method, hot-dried,
with 10 _per cent._ moisture. 1.48
Peat-charcoal, from condensed peat. 1.73
The same peat, simply cut and air-dried. 0.80
Beech-charcoal. 1.90
Summer-oak wood. 1.18
Birch wood. 0.95
White pine wood. 0.72
Alder. 0.65
Linden. 0.65
Red pine. 0.61
Poplar. 0.50
Some experiments have been made in this country on the value of peat as
fuel. One was tried on the N. Y. Central Railroad, Jan. 3, 1866. A
locomotive with 25 empty freight cars attached, was propelled from
Syracuse westward--the day being cold and the wind ahead--at the rate of
16 miles the hour. The engineer reported that "the peat gave us as much
steam as wood, and burnt a beautiful fire." The peat, we infer, was cut
and prepared near Syracuse, N. Y.
In one of the pumping houses of the Nassau Water Department of the City
of Brooklyn, an experiment has been made for the purpose of comparing
peat with anthracite, for the results of which I am indebted to the
courtesy of Moses Lane, Esq., Chief Engineer of the Department.
Fire was started under a steam boiler with wood. When steam was up, the
peat was burned--its quantity being 1743 lbs., or 18 barrels--and after
it was consumed, the firing was continued with coal. The pressure of
steam was kept as nearly uniform as possible throughout the trial, and
it was found that with 1743 lbs. of peat the engine made 2735
revolutions, while with 1100 lbs. of coal it made 3866 revolutions. In
other words, 100 lbs. of coal produced 351-45/100 revolutions, and 100
lbs. of peat produced 156-91/100 revolutions. One pound of coal
therefore equalled 2-24/100 lbs. of peat in heating effect. The peat
burned well and generated steam freely.
Mr. Lane could not designate the quality of the peat, not having been
able to witness the experiment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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