Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 193, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1917 — USES TURF INSTEAD OF COAL [ARTICLE]

USES TURF INSTEAD OF COAL

Switzerland, On Account of the War, la Forced to Fall Back on Peat as Fuel. According to a report to the department of commerce from William P. Kent,. Consul at Berne, Switzerland, the exigencies of war, the lack of developed coal deposits, and the Inability to Import coal in quantity sufficient to meet the needs of the population have Induced the Swiss government, through ’a semi-official organization, known as the Societe Co-operative Suisse de la Tourbe, whose address Is Berne, to resort to the use of turf or peat as a substitute or to supplement the insufficient supply of coal. The association Is in the market for the purchase of Improved machinery for cutting, raising, drying, and com■pressihg turf. Turf or peat as a fuel Is not a satisfactory and complete substitute for coal, on account of its low caloric properties, particularly for steam generation, but In those portions of the United States where It abounds it may be used to advantage for domestic consumption by admixture with coal, not only saving the cost of distant transportation of coal, but producing sufficient heat at a much reduced cost. It Is useless for a map to study who doesn’t think.