matters. It is, in many respects, an imitation of the old Dutch and
Irish mode of making "hand peat" (_Baggertorf_), and is very like the
paper manufacture in its operations. Challeton's Works, situated near
Paris, at Mennecy, near Montanges, were visited in 1856 by a Commission
of the Agricultural Society of Holstein, consisting of Drs. Meyn and
Luetkens, and also by Dr. Ruehlmann, in the interest of the Hanoverian
Government. From their account[22] the following statements are derived.

The peat at Mennecy comes from the decay of grasses, is black, well
decomposed, and occasionally intermingled with shells and sand. The moor
is traversed by canals, which serve for the transport of the excavated
peat in boats. The peat, when brought to the manufactory, is emptied
into a cistern, which, by communicating with the adjacent canal,
maintains a constant level of water. From this cistern the peat is
carried up by a chain of buckets and emptied into a hopper, where it is
caught by toothed cylinders in rapid revolution, and cut or torn to
pieces. Thence it passes into a chamber where the fine parts are
separated from unbroken roots and fibres by revolving brushes, which
force the former through small holes in the walls of the chamber, while
the latter are swept out through a larger passage. The pulverized peat
finally falls into a cistern, in which it is agitated by revolving arms.
A stream of water constantly enters this vessel from beneath, while a
chain of buckets as rapidly carries off the peat pulp. All sand, shells,
and other heavy matters, remain at the bottom of this cistern.

The peat pulp, thus purified, flows through wooden troughs into a series
of basins, in which the peat is formed and dried. These basins are made
upon the ground by putting up a square frame (of boards on edge,) about
one foot deep, and placing at the bottom old matting or a layer of flags
or reeds. Each basin is about a rod square, and 800 of them are
employed. They are filled with the peat pulp to the top. In a few days
the water either filters away into the ground, or evaporates, so that a
soft stratum of peat, about 3 inches in thickness, remains. Before it
begins to crack from drying, it is divided into blocks, by pressing into
it a light trellis-like framework, having thin partitions that serve to
indent the peat in lines corresponding to the intended divisions. On
further drying, the mass separates into blocks at the lines thus
impressed,