" air-dry peat from Biermoos, Salzburg, gave RIEDINGER 305 "
" very light fibrous peat, gave REISSIG 379 to 430 "
" Exter's machine-peat, from Haspelmoor, gave 367 "

Thenius states, that, to produce 1000 English cubic feet of purified
peat-gas, in the works at Kempten, Bavaria, there are required in the
retorts 292 lbs of peat. To distil this, 138-1/2 lbs. of peat are
consumed in the fire; and to purify the gas from carbonic acid, 91-1/2
lbs. of lime are used. In the retorts remain 117 lbs. of peat coal, and
nearly 6 lbs. of tar are collected in the operation, besides smaller
quantities of acetic acid and ammonia.

According to Stammer, 4 cwt. of dry peat are required for 1000 cubic
feet of purified gas.

The quality of the gas is somewhat better than that made from bituminous
coal.

18.--_The examination of Peat as to its value for Fuel_, begins with and
refers to the air-dry substance, in which:

1.--Water is estimated, by drying the pulverized peat, at 212 deg., as long
as any diminution of weight occurs. Well-dried peat-fuel should not
contain more than 20 _per cent._ of water. On the other hand it cannot
contain less than 15 _per cent._, except it has been artificially dried
at a high temperature, or kept for a long time in a heated apartment.

2.--_Ash_ is estimated by carefully burning the dry residue in 1. In
first-rate fuel, it should amount to less than 3 _per cent._ If more
than 8 _per cent._, the peat is thereby rendered of inferior quality,
though peat is employed which contains considerably more.

3.--_Sulphur_ and _phosphorus_ are estimated by processes, which it
would be useless to describe here. Only in case of vitriol peats is so
much sulphur present, that it is recognizable by the suffocating fumes
of sulphuric acid or of sulphurous acid, which escape in the burning.
When peat is to be employed for iron manufacture, or under steam
boilers, its phosphorus, and especially its sulphur, should be
estimated, as they injure the quality of iron when their quantity
exceeds a certain small amount, and have a destructive effect on
grate-bars and boilers. For common uses it is unnecessary to regard
these substances.

4.--The quantity of _coal_ or _coke_ yielded by peat, is determined by
heating a weighed quantity of the peat to redness in an iron retort, or
in a large platinum crucible, until gases cease to escape. The neck of
the retort is corked,