Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Second part - X. Manufacturing Industries. By Å. G. Ekstrand, Ph. D., Chief Engineer, Control Office of the Department of Finance - 8. Manufactures of Stone, Clay, Charcoal, and Peat - Peat Manufacture
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manufactured goods of stone, clay, charcoal, and peat. 851
value of 284,000 kronor. As a rule, however, peat is consumed at the place of
production, and it is hence impossible to make an accurate statement as regards
the total production for the country; it is estimated, though, as amounting to a
value of somewhat more than 1 million kronor annually.1 There are consumed
35 à 40 thousand tons in metallurgic works alone.1
Every thing seems to point in the direction that peat deserves to gain a more
extensive use. Every form of fuel is judged of at large according to its heating
capacity, which is arrived at, either by experimental burning of given quantities,
or by calorimetric analysis. From such analysis Professor P. Klason has
ascertained that 10 tons of coal are equivalent to 18 tons of machine-made peat,
20 tons of cut-peat, and 20 tons of firewood. The price of dry cut-peat at the place
of production is now quoted as being 4 kronor per metric ton, and of
machine-made peat 5—6 kronor. The average price of fossil coal at Swedish ports during
the years 1891/1900 was 18’50 kronor. Prices of pine firewood have risen
considerably during the last few years and may be now said to range at 12 kronor
and upwards for a fathom of four cubic meters, each cubic meter to a weight
of 375 kilograms,1 — which works out at about 8 kronor per ton. On the
basis of these prices, machine-made peat at the place of production would, as
regards the heating value, be half as expensive as fossil coal and 30 per cent
cheaper than pine firewood, and cut-peat still cheaper. When costs of freight
are added, the comparison becomes more complicated. The disadvantages with
regard to peat are its being so voluminous and containing such a great percentage
of ashes.
One more way in which peat is made use of, still remains to be mentioned,
viz. as moss-litter and peat-mould! for disinfecting purposes. For the making
of these, the incompletely mouldered layers in the mosses, so-called white-moss
peat, are used. These are air-dried and grated in machines, after which the
finest dark powder, the peat-mould, is separated from the fibrous elastic substance
in the moss-litter by means of a bolting-machine; each kind is by itself
compressed into bales. Moss-litter is admirably adepted for strewing on the
floors of cattle-stalls. It makes an especially soft, elastic, and dry bed for the
animals, is a good absorbant of fluid substances and takes up gasiform,
evil-smelling ones; in brief, at the same time as it takes up the dung, it retains its
full manuring value, and also purifies the atmosphere in the cow-house.
Moss-litter besides makes a good packing material.
Peat-mould lends itself specially well to the purposes of a night-soil, inasmuch
as it has the virtue of entirely removing the evil odour of excrement. The
peat-mould is best applied by means of a patent self-strewer. By virtue of the slightly
acid nature of peat-mould it is also a powerful disinfectant for the destruction
of contagion-bearing bacteriæ; its capacity as such may be considerably intensified
by an addition of 2—3 % of sulphuric acid. Peat-mould makes an excellent
manure for corn and sugar-beets, subsequent to its being saturated with waste lye
from the sugar factories.
In 1901 there were in Sweden 39 moss-litter and peat-mould factories, with
a production value of 493,000 kronor. — In 1902, by act of the Riksdag, a Fund
of 1,600,000 kronor was formed for the support of the peat industry by granting
advance loans on moderate terms. The State has besides of låte contributed to
the encouragement of the peat industry by the employment of an expert in the
peat manufacture, together with an assistant. — At Emmaljunga, in Skåne, there
is a school for instruction in the peat industry.
1 A krona = l lO shilling or 0 268 dollar. A ton = metric ton à 2,204 lbs. A cubic
meter = 35’82 cnblc feet. A kilogram = 2 204 lbs. A fathom of pine firewood is thns equal
to about 141 cubic feet or about 3,300 lbs. A krona per metric ton = 112 shilling per
English ton à 2,240 lbs.
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