CH A 



139 



C H A 



CHARCOAL. Soot, a chief consti- 

 tuent of winch is charcoal, lias long 

 been known as a very eifective fertil- 

 izer ; and burning has still longer been 

 known as a mode of reducing stubborn 

 soils to prompt productiveness. But 

 both these sources of fertility might 

 owe their etliciency to other causes 

 than their allbrding carbon to plants ; 

 and it is only within these very few 

 months that anything like a general 

 knowledge has been difl'used that mere 

 charcoal is one of the best of manures. 

 The fact lias been known for many 

 years to individuals, as, for example, 

 to Mr. Barnes, of Bicton ; but it is only 

 very lately that gardeners generally 

 have learned, and I am happy in being 

 able to join my voice to that excellent 

 cultivator's in announcing, that — char- 

 coal is a most efficient manure to all 

 cultivated plants, especially to those 

 under glass. Heaths, rhododendrons, 

 cucumbers, roses, orchidaceous plants, 

 hydrangeas, camellias, melons, and pine 

 apples, have been the subjects of ex- 

 tended and most successful experi- 

 ments. The advocates are too well 

 known to require more than naming, 

 for among them are Dr. Lindley, Mr. 

 Barnes, Mr. jMaund, Mr. Suow of S win- 

 ton Gardens, Mr. Stewart of Stradsett 

 Hall Gardens, and Mr. Rivers. I think 

 no cultivated plant would be unbene- 

 fited by having charcoal applied to the 

 soil in which it is rooted. It should be 

 broken into small pieces, about the size 

 of a nut, and for potted plants may be 

 mixed in the proportions of one part 

 charcoal to twenty parts earth. If ap- 

 plied to the open ground, one-fourth of 

 a bushel may be sown over a square 

 rod, and dug in just before inserting the 

 crop. The reason of charcoal being so 

 useful as a manure is very apparent. 

 MM. Sennebier, Ruckert, Saussure, 

 and others, have demonstrated that 

 plants are rendered much more luxuri 



long since shown to be otherwise by 

 Count Runiford ; and may easily be de- 

 monstrated to be incorrect, by confining 

 a few ounces of fresh and moistened 

 charcoal powder, mixed with earth, in 

 a glass receiver full of oxygen, over 

 lime water; carbonate of lime will 

 form, showing the gradual evolution or 

 carbonic acid. The following com- 

 munication from Mr. Barnes shows, 

 that carbonized vegetables are a better 

 manure for onions than even bone- 

 dust. 



" A piece ofground that was cropped 

 with colcworts last autumn, (1843,) was 

 cleared early, and the refuse trenched 

 in during the winter. 95 feet in length 

 and 10 feet in width, was planted with 

 small onions on the 14th of February, 

 which onions had been sown the se- 

 cond week of September in the pre- 

 vious autumn. They were planted in 

 rows one foot apart, and six inches 

 from plant to plant — with the intention 

 of drawing every alternate one for use 

 through the summer — but the whole 

 nine rows did not get entirely thinned. 

 The following is the weight when ripe 

 for storing on the 1st of August. 



" Five rows grown where 4 lbs. of 

 bone-dust to each row had been sown 

 in a drill drawn 3 inches deep and 

 filled up, and the onions planted over 

 it — producing 420 lbs. weight of onions 

 — each row yielding from 82 to 8S lbs. 



'' The other 4 rows had applied to 

 them of fresh dry charred refuse and 

 ashes, made from the garden rubbish- 

 heap, two common buckets full, weight 

 14 lbs. They produced 366 lbs. of 

 onions, the rows weighing respectively 

 99, 89, 9.3, and S3 lbs. The last row 

 being injured by a roy of red cabbage 

 growing near. 



'' Many of the foregoing onions, 

 which were a mixture of the Globe, 

 Deptford, and Reading, measured in 

 circumference from 14 to 16.V inches, 



ant and productive, by having carbonic ! and weighed as many ounces. I 

 acid applied to their roots, than other j weighed 12 together, that turned the 

 plants to whose roots no such applica- scale at 12 lb. 9 oz. I can only fancy 

 tion was made. Now charcoal kept , what a wonderful saving and benefit it 

 moist, as when buried in the soil, slow- j would be to the country, to char the 

 ly combines with oxygen, and emits 1 refuse of old tan, chips, sawdust, ditch 

 carbonic acid — in fact, it slowly dis- scourings containing sods, weeds, 

 solves. I am sorry to differ from such bushes, and refuse. By keeping the 

 an authority as Liebig, who broadly surface of the earth well stirred, no 

 asserts that -'Carbon never combines j crops appear to suffer by drought that 

 at common temperatures with oxygen, are manured by charrings, but continue 

 BO as to form carbonic acid." This was ' in the most vigorous health throughout 



