232 Practical Forestry 



Per Cent. 



Poplar . ...18 



Birch ......... 17 



Alder 17 



Ash 17 



Hazel 17 



Mountain Ash . . . . . . .17 



Scotch fir .16 



Larch . . . . . . . . .16 



Uses of Charcoal. The uses of charcoal for estate 

 purposes are very numerous, for horticultural, agricultural 

 and other departments. From remote antiquity charcoal 

 has been used as a fuel, and for many purposes it is still 

 unsurpassed. It is by far the cleanest solid fuel known ; 

 it burns steadily, gives out a great amount of heat, and 

 lasts well. On account of its smokelessness it is invaluable 

 for cookery, and it is also admirably suited for use in green- 

 house and other stoves. It is not adopted for heating 

 apartments on account of the poisonous gas (carbonic oxide) 

 produced in its combustion, and the danger, most apparent 

 when the charcoal is burnt in an open chauffer, is not 

 obviated by using it in a stove, as carbonic oxide has the 

 power of diffusing through red-hot iron. 



In gardening, charcoal is largely used for potting purposes, 

 for vine borders, and for flower beds ; and in the form of 

 dust it is the best material for packing bulbs for transmission 

 to a distance. 



Perhaps the most important of the uses to which charcoal 

 can be put about a house or estate is that depending on its 

 extraordinary power of absorbing gases. It is a perfect 

 deodorant, a preservative of food and all animal substances 

 and a valuable disinfectant. The gases most readily 

 absorbed by charcoal are those which are most prejudicial 

 to health and most frequently produced by putrefactive 

 changes. 



In the pores of the charcoal they are destroyed by union 

 with the oxygen condensed from the air. The fact of its 

 being absolutely non-poisonous and perfectly odourless 

 puts it before all other disinfectants. 



" Dogwood " for Gunpowder Charcoal. The alder 



