ly worthless for other purposes.

[Illustration: Fig. 21.--CARINTHIAN PEAT DRYING-KILN.]

The _Peat Kilns_ employed at Lippitzbach, in Carinthia, and at Neustadt,
in Hanover, are of the kind shown in fig. 21. The peat with which the
main chamber is filled, is heated directly by the hot gases that arise
from a fire made in the fire-place at the left. These gases first enter
a vault, where they intermingle and cool down somewhat; thence they
ascend through the openings of the brick grating, and through the mass
of peat to the top of the chamber. On their way they become charged
with vapor, and falling, pass off through the chimney, as is indicated
by the arrows. The draught is regulated by the damper on the top of the
chimney. To manage the fire, so that on the one hand the chimney is
sufficiently heated to create a draught, and on the other waste of fuel,
or even ignition of the peat itself is prevented, requires some care.

In _Welkner's Peat Kiln_[30] (fig. 22) the peat, previously air-dried,
is exposed to a stream of hot air, until it is completely desiccated,
and the arrangement is such, that air-dried peat may be thrown in at the
top, and the hot-dried fuel be removed at the bottom, continuously.

In the cut, _A_ represents the section of a wooden cylinder about 10
feet wide and 6-1/2 feet deep, which surmounts a funnel of iron plate
_A'_. The mouth of the funnel is closed by a door _n_; about 20 inches
above the door the pipe _B_, which conducts hot air, terminates in the
ring _a a_, through the holes in which, _e e_, it is distributed into
the funnel filled with peat. The air is driven in by a blower, and is
heated by circulating through a system of pipes, which are disposed in
the chimney of a steam boiler. From time to time a quantity of dried
peat is drawn off into the wagon _D_, which runs on rails, and a similar
amount of undried peat is thrown in above.

According to Welkner, a kiln of the dimensions stated, which cost, about
$1800 gold, is capable of desiccating daily ten tons of peat with 20
_per cent._ of water, using thereby 2000 cubic feet of air of a
temperature of 212 deg. F. When the air is heated by a fire kept up
exclusively for that purpose, 10 _per cent._ of the dried peat, or its
equivalent, is consumed in the operation. At the Alexis Smelting Works,
near Lingen, in Hanover, this peat kiln furnishes about half the fuel
for a high furnace, in which bog iron ore is smelted. The drying costs
bu