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.

These trials have not, indeed, all the precision needful to fix with
accuracy the comparative heating effect of the fuels employed; for a
furnace, that is adapted for wood, is not necessarily suited to peat,
and a coal grate must have a construction unlike that which is proper
for a peat fire; nevertheless they exhibit the relative merits of wood,
peat, and anthracite, with sufficient closeness for most practical
purposes.

Two considerations would prevent the use of ordinary cut peat in large
works, even could two and one-fourth tons of it be afforded at the same
price as one ton of coal. The Nassau Water Department consumes 20,000
tons of coal yearly, the handling of which is a large expense, six
firemen being employed to feed the furnaces. To generate the same amount
of steam with peat of the quality experimented with, would require the
force of firemen to be considerably increased. Again, it would be
necessary to lay in, under cover, a large stock of fuel during the
summer, for use in winter, when peat cannot be raised. Since a barrel of
this peat weighed less than 100 lbs., the short ton would occupy the
volume of 20 barrels; as is well known, a ton of anthracite can be put
into 8 barrels. A given weight of peat therefore requires 2-1/2 times as
much storage room, as the same weight of coal. As 2-1/4 tons of peat, in
the case we are considering, are equivalent to but one ton of coal in
heating effect, the winter's supply of peat fuel would occupy 5-5/8
times the bulk of the same supply in coal, admitting that the unoccupied
or air-space in a pile of peat is the same as in a heap of coal. In
fact, the calculation would really turn out still more to the
disadvantage of peat, because the air-space in a bin of peat is greater
than