Abstract: Physical and chemical characteristics of domestic and foreign peats for agricultural utilization were compared．The results show that compared with the peat produced by foreign manufacturers，the domestic peat has a lower totalporosity，and higher bulk density and ash content．The domestic peat has less cation exchange capacity than the foreignpeat．Both pH and electric conductivity of the domestic peat are relatively higher．The N，P，and K contents of the domestic peat are 2，3～4 and 3～5 times higher than those of the foreign peat，while the domestic peat has similar available nutri-ents with foreign peat，except available iron．Foreign peat of which the pH is adjusted has much more available Ca than do-mestic peat does.