EXPERIMENTS WITH CHARCOAL. 17 



ARTICLE III. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH CHARCOAL FOR FLORICULTURAL 



PURPOSES. 



BY DJHL, OF MMEHOUSE, NEAR LONDON. 



Mr. Editor,— In page 253 of your last volume is a communication 

 from a Melton Mowbray correspondent, stating the increase of his 

 stock of plants tenfold by the use of charcoal. 



The following extracts from Liebig's " Agricultural Chemistry " 

 will, perhaps, throw some light on the subject : — 



" In a division of a low hothouse in the Botanical Garden at 

 Munich, a bed was set apart for tropical plants ; but instead of being 

 filled with tan, it was filled with the powder of charcoal, the large pieces 

 having been previously separated by means of a sieve. The heat was 

 conducted by means of an iron tube into a hollow space of the bed, and 

 distributed a gentle warmth, such as tan communicates when in a state 

 of fermentation. The plants placed in this bed of charcoal quickly 

 vegetated, and acquired a healthy appearance, and, as is always the 

 case in such beds, the roots of many of the plants penetrated through 

 the holes in the bottom of the pots, and then spread themselves out ; 

 but these plants evidently surpassed in vigour and general luxuriance 

 plants grown in the common way: for example, the beautiful 

 Thunbergia alata throve astonishingly ; the blossoms were so rich, 

 that all who saw them affirmed they had never seen such before. I 

 was led to a series of experiments, the results of which were highly 

 interesting and successful. A Cactus, planted in a mixture of equal 

 parts of charcoal and earth, throve progressively, and attained double 

 its former size in the space of a few weeks." 



The above extract seems to add strength to the experiments made 

 by your correspondent. The writer of the above goes on to say that 

 he made experiments on no less than thirty or forty kinds of plants, 

 and all with the same success ; but it appears heat was used in all 

 the experiments he made. Your correspondent used none, and I 

 think his mode will be of great service if he will be so kind to send 

 them for publication. 



[We hope our correspondent will communicate the results of expe- 

 riments tried since we received his former remarks.— Conductor.] 



