e able to make 10,000 peats daily, which,
on drying, were considerably denser and harder than the cut peat.

The peat thus prepared, cost about one-third more than the cut peat.
Siemens reckoned, this greater cost would be covered by its better
heating effect, and its ability to withstand transportation without
waste by crumbling.

b. _Condensation of fibrous peat._

_Weber's method._

At Staltach, in Southern Bavaria, Weber has established an extensive
peat works, of which Vogel has given a circumstantial account.[24] The
peat at Staltach is very light and fibrous, but remarkably free from
mineral matters, containing less than 2 _per cent._ of ash in the
perfectly dry substance. The moor is large, (475 acres), and the peat is
from 12 to 20 feet in depth. The preparation consists in converting the
fresh peat into pulp or paste, forming it into moulds and drying it; at
first by exposure to the air at ordinary temperature, and finally, by
artificial heat, in a drying house constructed for the purpose.

The peat is cut out by a gang of men, in large masses, cleared of coarse
roots and sticks, and pushed on tram wagons to the works, which, are
situated lower than the surface of the bog. Arrived at the works, the
peat is carried upon an inclined endless apron, up to a platform 10 feet
high, where a workman pushes it into the pulverizing mill, the
construction of which is seen from the accompanying cut. The vertical
shaft _b_ is armed with sickle-shaped knives, _d_, which revolve between
and cut contrary to similar knives _c_, fixed to the interior of the
vessel. The latter is made of iron, is 3-1/2 feet high, 2 feet across at
top and 1-1/2 feet wide at the bottom. From the base of the machine at
_g_, the perfectly pulverized or minced peat issues as a stiff paste. If
the peat is dry, a little water is added. Vogel found the fresh peat to
contain 90 _per cent._, of water, the pulp 92 _per cent._ Weber's
machine, operated by an engine of 10 horse power, working usually to
half its capacity only, reduced 400 cubic feet of peat per hour, to the
proper consistency for moulding.

[Illustration: Fig. 10.--WEBER'S PEAT MILL.]

Three modes of forming the paste into blocks have been practiced. One
was in imitation of that employed with mud-peat. The paste was carried
by railway to sheds, where it was filled by hand into moulds 17 inches
by 7-1/4 by 5-1/2 inches, and put upon frames to dry. These sheds
occupied together 52,000