312 THE FLORAL WORLD AXD GARDEN GUIDE. 



bicolor, Pietetia, Poecile, etc., were particularly remarked for tlie liveliness of their 

 tints ; and it happened here also that the period of their vegetation was unusually 

 long. 



A cactus, planted in a mixture of charcoal and earth, throve progressively, and 

 attained double its size in the space of a few weeks. Tlie use of the charcoal was 

 very advantageous with several of the Bromeliaccoe and Silenacese, with the Citrus 

 and Begonia also, and even with the Palnite. The same advantage was found in 

 the case of almost all those plants for which sund is used in order to keep the 

 earth porous ; when charcoal was mixed with the soil instead of sand, the vegeta- 

 tion was always rendered stronger and more vigorous. 



At the same time that these experiments were performed with mixtures of 

 charcoal and different soils, the charcoal was also used free from anv addition, and 

 in this case the best results were obtained. Cuts of plants from different genera 

 took root in it well and quickly. I mention only the Euphorbia fastuosa and fulgens, 

 which took root in ten days ; Pandanus utilis, in three weeks ; P. amaryllifolius, 

 ChamDedorea elatior, in ibur weeks; Piper nigrum. Begonia, Ficus, Cacropia, Chi- 

 cocca, Buddleja, Ilatrea, Phyllantluis, Capparis, Laurus, Stiii'tia, Jacquinia, Mimosa, 

 Cactus, in from eight to ten days ; and several others, amounting to forty species, 

 including Ilex, and many others. Leaves and pieces of leaves, and even dedimenti 

 or petioles, took root and in part budded in pure charcoal. Amongst others we may 

 mention the fioliola of several of the Cycadacca^ as having taken root, as also did 

 parts of the leaves of the Begonia Selsairice, and Jacaranda Brasiliences ; leaves of 

 Euphorbia fastuosa, Oxalis Barrelieri, Ficus, Cyclamen, Polyanthus, ]\Iesembryan- 

 themum ; also, pieces of a leaf of the Agave Americana, tufts of Piuus, etc., and 

 all without the aid of a previously-formed bud. 



Pure charcoal acts excellently as a means of curing unhealthy plants. A 

 Doryanthes excelsa, for example, which had been drooping for three years, was 

 rendered completely healthy in a very short t me by this means. An orange-tree, 

 which had the very common disease in which the leaves become yellow, acquired 

 within four weeks its healthy green colour, when the upper surface of the eartii 

 was removed from the pot in which it was contaiiK-d, and a ring of charcoal of an 

 inch in thickness strewed in its place around the periphery of the pot. The same 

 was the case with the Gardenia. 



I should be led too far, were I to state all the results of the experiments which 

 I have made with charcoal. The object of this paper is merely to show the general 

 effect exercised by this substance on vegetation ; but the reader who takes particular 

 interest in this subject, will find more extensive observations in the Allgemeine 

 Deutsciie Garteuzeitung, of Otto and Dietrich, in Berlin. 



The charcoal employed in these experiments was the dust-like powder of char- 

 coal from firs and pines, such as is used in the forges of the blacksmiths, and may 

 be easilj' procured in any quantitJ^ It was found to have most effect when allov.'ed 

 to lie during the winter exposed to the action of the air. In order to ascertain the 

 eff'ects of different kinds of charcoal, experiments were made upon th.at obtained 

 from the hard woods and peat, and also upon animal charcoal, although I foresaw 

 the probability that none of them would answer so well as that of pine wood, both 

 on account of its porosity and the ease with which it is decomposed. It is super- 

 fluous to remark that in treating plants herein described, they must be plentifully 

 supplied with water, since the air, having such free access, penetrates and dries the 

 roots, so that unless this precaution is taken, the failure of all such experiments is 

 unavoidable. 



The action of charcoal consists primarily in its preserving the parts of the 

 plants with which it is in contact, whether they be roots, branches, leaves, or pieces 

 of leaves, unchanged in their vital power for a long space of time, so that the 

 plant obtains time to develop the organs which are necessary for its further support 

 and propagation. There can scarcely be a doubt, also, that the charcoal undergoes 

 decomposition ; for after being used five to six years, it becomes a coaly earth, and 

 if this is the case, it must yield carbon, or carbonic oxide abundantly to the plants 

 growing in it, and thus afford the principal substance necessary for the nutrition of 

 vegetables. In what other manner, indeed, could we explain the deep green colour 

 and great luxuriance of the leaves and every part of the plants, which can be 

 obtained in no other kind of soil, according to the opinion of men well qualified to 

 judge ? It exercises, likewise, a favourable influence, by decomposing and absorbing 



