[AT] Now smoldering peat

[charlie hill]

Herb this is poor, sandy land with a lot of organic content and it grows a 
lot of scrub trees, vines,  moss, bushes like wild blueberry, etc.  Over 
centuries the residue of those plants have built up and since the soil is 
highly acidic the stuff doesn't rot away.   It's not the kind of peat like 
you would see in Scotland that can be cut into blocks.  This is more like 
you went to the lawn and garden supply and bought
bags of peat like you mix in potting soil and dumped about 3 to 5 feet of it 
on the ground and packed it down a little bit.   I know you are thinking if 
it has a lot of organic content why is it poor ground.   Because it's not 
uniform and consistent.   You might have a ridge of what we call sugar sand 
which is something akin to beach sand without any salt content.  Then there 
might be a bog that you can maybe walk over if it's dry that has no bottom 
to it when it's wet.  In between and over the top is the peat.  If you ever 
watch the reality TV show Swamp Loggers you'll see some of this kind of 
land.  I'm not talking about the completely wet land that is usually seen on 
that show but the stuff around the edges as you come up out of the swamp.

I don't know,  maybe Al Jones can explain it better.  Once this stuff gets 
burning it will actually burn down under the surface much like a pile of 
chips or green hay.

Charlie



-----Original Message----- 
From: Herbert Metz
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 8:29 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] Now smoldering peat



  "I'm about ready to do a hurricane dance and hope it puts  out that
damned 30,000 acres of smoldering peat".

Charlie; what is the origin of the peat.
Decades ago we lived half hour NE of Rock Island, IL.  Near us was a big
"U" shape (approx half mile wide and 20 miles long) in the Mississippi
River that got cut off and isolated during a flood.  This eventually dried
and became great farm land; one of the always present concerns was the
ground (decomposed trees, etc) catching on fire. Last time we visited it
was all being bagged and sold for big money

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