INTRODUCTION

The- following report on peat deposits has been prepared by the State G eological Survey in co-operation with the United States Geological Survey. The aim of the report has been to supply a reliable although necessarily brief account of the peat deposits of the State. It has not been practicable to report separately upon each one of the very many peat bogs of the State since to do. so would f ar exceed the limits available f or this report. The objects, were rather to determine the character of the peat, to distin guish between the better and the inferior deposits, and to indicate the parts of the State in which peat may be expected to be f ound. The more detailed work of locating and describing individual bogs will follow as the peat industry grows, creating a demand for such information.
The amount of time and funds that it was possible for the, State-Survey to devote to the investigation of peat was limited and it is ,only through Ifortunate circumstances that the report can be issued at this time. Dr. Harper, the author, has given unsparingly of his time, and the results embodied in the paper represent not only the information accumulated while in the employ of the State, but in addition he has included many supplementary observations obtained in connection with other. investigations, all of which he has freely contributed. The photographs in this paper and several of those in the preceding papers of this report have also been contributed by Dr. Harper.
The report contains the analyses of fifty-three samples of peat. Forty-six of these analyses have been made in the fuel testing laboratory of the United States Geological Survey. In accordance with an agreement for co-operative work between the State and the National Surveys, these samples were collected and the field notes regarding the deposits made at the expenses of the State Survey. In return the fuel tests and analyses were made by the National Survey. These analyses are included in the report and have added very materially to its value. Dr. Charles A. Davis, in charge of the peat investigations of the United States 'Geological Survey, has been particularly considerate and helpful in furthering the peat investigations. I
It is desirable to call- attention at this time to the importance of peat. and to the vastness of the deposits in this State.. Large deposits are found over a considerable area of the State, and the quality as shown by the fuel tests and analyses, is well -up to, if not above the average. The manner of occurrence is such as to permit of