FOREIGN Ai\D MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



sole reason for this was, that the soil in 

 which tliey grew had become impoverished. 

 We apply "the plan of disbudding to pillar and 

 weeping roses, as toothers, by rubbing out any 

 buds that may appear disadvantageously situ- 

 ated. In the youngest stage of the tree, the 

 buds left to produce flowers and flowering 

 shoots for the subsequent year, should stand 

 about six inches apart on the main branches: 

 intermediate buds should be rubbed out. The 

 laterals produced in after stages, may also 

 be disbudded ; but masses of flower being the 

 object sought here, the practice should not be 

 too freely resorted to. A few words on sum- 

 mer pruning or thinning seem called for. If 

 disbudding can be carried out, there is no need 

 of summer thinning; but, if it cannot be, then 

 the latter practice may be followed to advan- 

 tage. So soon as the plants have done flower- 

 ing look Ihem carefully over, thin out the weak 

 unhealthy shoots, and even some of the stout 

 and healthy ones, where they approach each 

 other too nearly: each shoot should stand free 

 and exposed on every side,. It is surprising to 

 see how stout and Arm the shoots become, and 

 how the leaves increase in size after summer 

 thinning. The summer kinds submitted to this 

 treatment usually continue their growth by the 

 elongation of the main shoots, the buds on the 

 axils of the leaves remaining dormant; but, 

 with the autumnals, the buds push forth the 

 entire length of the shoots, and the second flow- 

 ering is complete. The trees are imjyoved in 

 both cases, for the shoots grown at this period 

 will produce the finest flowers in the subsequent 

 season. — Paul's Rose Garden. 



Charcoal is an impure form of carbon, and 

 is manufactured on a large scale for the purpo- 

 ses of the arts. The process of manufacture 

 con^ists in exposing to heat billets of wood, or 

 other organic matter, under such conditions as 

 either wholly or partiallj' to exclude the air. 

 Charcoal has several properties which render 

 it of value to the cultivator. As a manure, it 

 docs not act by furnishing carbon to the vege- 

 tation; because it is, in reality, one of the most 

 indestructible substances known, and remains 

 for an indefinite length of time without change. 

 But it is remarkably absorptive of certain gases 

 which it retains within its pores in a state of 

 high condensation. A fragment of freshly burn- 

 ed charcoal condenses as much as ninety times 

 its bulk of ammoniacal gas, and thirty-five 

 times its volume of carbonic acid. As these 

 two gases form the jirincipal organic food of 

 plants, it is obvious that charcoal may have a 

 powerful individual action upon their growth. 

 The experiments of Saussure and others, have 

 shown that plants flourish with great luxuri- 

 ance when the atmosphere in which thej' grow 

 contains more than the usual amount of car- 

 bonic acid. Charcoal, after liaving absorbed 

 carbonic acid and ammonia from the air, places 

 plants under favorable conditions for receiving 

 and appropriating a larger than usual amount 



of this organic food. The only diffl-rence is, 

 that instead of entering the plant by the leaves, 

 they reach it through the roots, which absorb 

 the rain water containing these gases, washed 

 out from the charcoal. Thus, charcoal, from 

 its absorbtive nature, liecomes an indirect 

 means of increasing the supjjly of carbon and 

 nitrogen to plants. Different kinds of charcoal 

 have varying values in this respect. Experi- 

 ments made by exposing freshly burned i)ieces 

 of charcoal to the air, showed their diti'erent 

 absorptive powers, by the increase in weight 

 after they had been exposed a week to the at- 

 mosphere. The charcoal from fir gained 13 

 per cent, in weight ; that from lignuna vitse, 9.6 ; 

 that from box, 14; from beech, 16-3; from oak, 

 16.5; and from mahogany, 18. Charcoal also 

 possesses the property of absorbing and retain- 

 ing the odoriferous and coloring principles of 

 most organic substances. It is, on this account, 

 used for removing the putrefactive taint from 

 foul water, or other putrid substances. When 

 used as a filter for foul water, both the smell 

 and color are removed. From this deodorising 

 property charcoal is frequently mixed with 

 night-soil, and other decaying manures, which 

 it keeps free from smell, and at the same time 

 aids in preserving, by absorbing the gases which 

 would otherwise escape. A mixture of char- 

 coal and burnt clay is frequently used for this 

 purpose with excellent effect. Charcoal, when 

 employed as a manure, acts, to a small extent, 

 by presenting, in a soluble form, the ashes of 

 the wood from which it was prepared ; but this 

 action is only temporary, and of small impor- 

 tance, when compared with its principal point 

 of utility, viz: its power of absorbing from tlie 

 air the gaseous food of plants; and therefore, 

 of presenting it in a more condensed form, and 

 in greater quantity. — Professor Playfair, in 

 Morion's Cyclopedia of .Agriculture. 



Dwarf Pinks of Verviers. — Liege and 

 Verviers are the only two towns in Belgium in 

 which the Pink, including all the different kinds 

 and classes, is held in honor; and there are in 

 these towns extensive and influential societies 

 for the promotion of the culture and exhibition 

 of this flower. Even at Brussels amateurs 

 would scarcely believe that the growers belong- 

 ing to the towns already named, can exhibit 

 pots of Dwarf Pinks in which from 180 to 200 

 flowers may be counted; and yet nothing is 

 more common in these localities where the cul- 

 tivation of the Pink is established. We may 

 easily perceive with what class of the i)opula- 

 tion the cultivation of Dwarf Pinks is most in 

 favor. If the Pink is not the flower of the rich, 

 neither is it that of the poor. It has more of 

 dignity and greater value ; it is the flower of 

 honest labor. At Liege, for instance, the most 

 industrious and the most moral part of the 

 population is that including the colliers, who are 

 famous for the good management of the 

 dow gardens, which comprise, in a grea 

 sure, these Dwarf Pinks. The same obse 



