latter. The use of peat was
found to effect a considerable saving in the outlay for fuel, and
enabled the production to be somewhat increased, while the excellence of
the iron was in no way impaired. The peat was of the best quality, and
was worked and moulded by hand.

When the ore is refractory and contains impurities that must be fluxed
and worked off in slag, a large proportion of air-dry peat cannot be
used to advantage, because the evaporation of the water in it consumes
so much heat, that the requisite temperature is not easily attained.

At Achthal, in Bavaria, air-dry peat was employed in 1860, to replace a
portion of the fir wood charcoal, which had been used for smelting an
impure clay-iron-stone: the latter fuel having become so dear, that peat
was resorted to as a make shift. Instead of one "sack," or 33 cubic feet
of charcoal, 24 cubic feet of charcoal and 15 cubic feet of peat were
employed in each charge, and the quantity of ore had to be diminished
thereby, so that the yield of pig was reduced, on the average, by about
17 _per cent._ In this case the quality of the iron, when worked into
bar, was injured by the use of peat, obviously from an increase of its
content of phosphorus. The exclusive use of air-dry peat as fuel in the
high furnace, appears to be out of the question.

At Ransko, in Bohemia, _kiln-dried peat_, nearly altogether free from
water, has been employed in a high furnace, mixed with but one-third its
bulk of charcoal, and in cupola furnaces for re-melting pig, full-dried
peat has been used alone, answering the purpose perfectly.

The most important metallurgical application of peat is in the refining
of iron.

Dried peat is extensively used in puddling furnaces, especially in the
so-called gas puddling furnaces, in Carinthia, Steyermark, Silesia,
Bavaria, Wirtemberg, Sweden, and other parts of Europe. In Steyermark,
peat has been thus employed for 25 years.

Air-dry peat is, indeed, also employed, but is not so well adapted for
puddling, as its water burns away a notable quantity of iron. It is one
of the best known facts in chemistry, that ignited iron is rapidly
oxidized in a stream of water-vapor, free hydrogen being at the same
time evolved.

In the high furnace, _peat-coal_, when compact and firm (not crumbly)
may replace charcoal perfectly, but its cost is usually too great.

When peat or peat-coal is employed in smelting, it must be as free as
possible from ash, because