PEAT SOIL. Peat in a state of de composition, on which corn or other ag ricultural crops may be grown. The pro cess of turning living peat into peat soil is greatly facilitated by draining, and by laying earth or lime on its surface, and af terwards mixing the earthy matter with the peaty by ploughing or digging. In this manner every kind of peaty surface may be rendered available for agricultural purposes ; and accordingly, in Ireland, good Crops of corn, potatoes, and artificial grasses are produced on the surface ofpeat lands, which consist of a layer of peat from five to twenty feet in depth. The plants which thrive best on the surface of beds of peat of this description are those which extend their roots immediately uuder the surface. Hence few trees will thrive in such soils, with the exception of the spruce fir, the silver fir, the birch,. and two or three kinds of willows. 1. eaty soil is extensively used in gardening, in the culture of plants which are found growing on this soil in a wild state.
Peat is not extensively found in the United States. The light soil and the ex tensive clearings in New-England have prevented accumulations of vegetable matter. Peat is common in Maine and the Canadian border, and many of the swamp mucks of New-York, New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania, contain as much peaty matter as the bogs of Ireland, and might be cut and dried for fuel.
Charred peat is among the best of deodorizers, from the absorbent property of the finely-divided charcoal, hence its value when added to night-soil to make compost manure. Some time since a
company was started in Ireland to manu facture out of peat and turf, naphtha, par afine, volatile oil, and salts of ammonia, with considerable profit. Small quanti ties of these substances are obtained by the close distillation of peat, but not the profitable return calculated on by .over drawn estimates. The charcoal of peat is that best adapted for the manufacture of gunpowder.
Peat from wood, or woodypeat,is a com position of the branches, trunks, and. roots of trees, with their leaves, and the shrubs and plants which have grown np among them, which have lain so long in water as to have decayed into a mass soft enough to be cut with a spade. The co lor is a blackish brown, like that of mossy peat ; and it may be used as manure, for fuel, and for the growth of plants. It is abundant in North America, where it forms the soil in which many of the plants and trees of that country thrive with the greatest vigor. Wherever it can be found it is the most suitable of all kinds of peat for garden purposes. This kind of peat is frequently burned for its ashes ; and these, from the alkali they contain, are found an excellent manure.
Peat, sandy, or sanely peat, is mossy peat in a state of decay or mould, natur ally mixed with sand brought over it, from soil lying above its level, or by the overfiowings of rivers. It is used in gar dening for the same purposes as heath soil.