The second mode of forming the peat was to run off the pulp into large and deep pits, excavated in the ground, and provided with drains for carrying off water. The water soaked away into the soil, and in a few weeks of good weather, the peat was stiff enough to cut out into blocks by the spade, having lost 20 to 25 _per cent._ of its water, and 15 _per cent._ of its bulk. The blocks were removed to the drying sheds, and set upon edge in the spaces left by the shrinking of the peats made by the other method. The working of the peat for the pits could go on, except in the coldest weather, as a slight covering usually sufficed to protect them from frost.
Both of these methods have been given up as too expensive, and are replaced, at present, by the following:
In the third method the peat-mass falls from the mill into a hopper, which directs it between the rolls _A B_ of fig. 11, (see next page). The roll _A_ has a series of boxes on its periphery _m m_, with movable bottoms which serve as moulds. The peat is carried into these boxes by the rolls _c c_. The iron projections _n n_ of the large roll _B_, which work cog-like into the boxes, compress the peat gently and, at last, the eccentric p acting upon the pin _z_, forces up the movable bottom of the box and throws out the peat-block upon an endless band of cloth, which carries it to the drying place.
The peats which are dried at first under cover and therefore slowly, shrink more evenly and to a greater extent than those which are allowed to dry rapidly. The latter become cracked upon the surface and have cavities internally, which the former do not. This fact is of great importance for the density of the peat, for its usefulness in producing intense heat, and its power to withstand carriage.
[Illustration: Fig. 11--WEBER'S PEAT MOULDING MACHINE.]
The _complete drying_ is, on the other hand, by this method, a much slower process, since the dense, fissureless exterior of the peats hinders the escape of water from within. It requires, in fact, several months of ordinary drying for the removal of the greater share of the water, and at the expiration of this time they are still often moist in the interior.
Artificial drying is therefore employed to produce the most compact, driest, and best fuel.