On the Goethe Moor in the Harz mountains of Germany peat was cut to provide fuel for smelting ore when local miners had felled all the trees and timber was used up. Later a railway line was cut through the peat to take tourists to the top of the Brocken mountain, made popular by Goethe’s writings on nature.
‘Great Piece of Turf’, Albrecht Durer. The Albertina, Vienna.
Robin A Crawford 