peat1 (pet)

[ countries where it occurs quite different, and oc formation is large. The genus Sphagnum is an important element in much of the European peat. The peat of Bengal, on the other hand, is said to be formed almost exclusively from one plant, the wild rice, Oryza sylvestris, variety of aquatic plants. Peat is very spongy, and contains a large amount of water near the surface; the deeper down it is taken, the more compact it is. A great variety of proce es for compre ing and hot-drying it have been invented and put in use in different parts of the world. 2. A small block of peat-bog or -mo , resembling an ordinary brick in shape, cut and dried of New England is made up of a considerable IMG:content-2517.jpg:[blocks in formation] peat2t, n. and a . An obsolete variant of petl . peat-bed (pēt'bed), n. Same as peat - bog and peat - mo , 2. IMG:content-2518.jpg:[blocks in formation] peat-coke (pētʼkōk), n. A name sometimes, but incorrectly, given to peat-charcoal. peat-cutter (pēt'kut"ér), n. A form of paring- plow for cutting peat from the bog. peat-gas (pēt gas), n. Gas made by the distil- lati on of peat. peat-hagg (pet'hag), n. A pit whence peat has been dug. [Scotch.] peat-machine (pēt'ma-shēn"), n. A machine, similar in principle to the brick-machine, for preparing peat for fuel, either without addition IMG:content-2519.jpg:[blocks in formation] Prinous genus Caragana. The Chinese stres C. Chamlagu, a low or spreading shrub occasionally planted for ornament. The Siberian pea-tree is C. arbores cens, a shrub or low tree. Its seeds are fed to fowls and are of some culinary use; its leaves yield a blue dye. It is sometimes planted for ornament. 2. A shrub of the genus Sesbania. S. ( Agati ) grandiflora, sometimes specified as West Indian pea-tree, is an East Indian shrub naturalized in Florida and some of the West Indies, having white or red flowers 3 or 4 inches long. Swamp pea-tree, the fuller name of plants of this genus, is applied somewhat particularly to S. occident ale.