square feet, and contained at once 200,000
peats. The peats remained here 8 to 14 days or more, according to the
weather, when they were either removed to the drying house, or piled in
large stacks to dry slowly out-of-doors. The sheds could be filled and
emptied at least 12 times each season, and since they protected from
light frosts, the season began in April and lasted until November.

The second mode of forming the peat was to run off the pulp into large
and deep pits, excavated in the ground, and provided with drains for
carrying off water. The water soaked away into the soil, and in a few
weeks of good weather, the peat was stiff enough to cut out into blocks
by the spade, having lost 20 to 25 _per cent._ of its water, and 15 _per
cent._ of its bulk. The blocks were removed to the drying sheds, and set
upon edge in the spaces left by the shrinking of the peats made by the
other method. The working of the peat for the pits could go on, except
in the coldest weather, as a slight covering usually sufficed to protect
them from frost.

Both of these methods have been given up as too expensive, and are
replaced, at present, by the following:

In the third method the peat-mass falls from the mill into a hopper,
which directs it between the rolls _A B_ of fig. 11, (see next page).
The roll _A_ has a series of boxes on its periphery _m m_, with movable
bottoms which serve as moulds. The peat is carried into these boxes by
the rolls _c c_. The iron projections _n n_ of the large roll _B_, which
work cog-like into the boxes, compress the peat gently and, at last, the
eccentric p acting upon the pin _z_, forces up the movable bottom of the
box and throws out the peat-block upon an endless band of cloth, which
carries it to the drying place.

The peats which are dried at first under cover and therefore slowly,
shrink more evenly and to a greater extent than those which are allowed
to dry rapidly. The latter become cracked upon the surface and have
cavities internally, which the former do not. This fact is of great
importance for the density of the peat, for its usefulness in producing
intense heat, and its power to withstand carriage.

[Illustration: Fig. 11--WEBER'S PEAT MOULDING MACHINE.]

The _complete drying_ is, on the other hand, by this method, a much
slower process, since the dense, fissureless exterior of the peats
hinders the escape of water from within. It requires, in fact, several
months of ordinary drying