PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



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 greenhouse 

 and other stoves. It is not adapted for heating apartments 

 on account of the poisonous gas (carbonic oxide) produced 

 in ite combustion, and the danger, most apparent when the 

 charcoal is burnt in an open chauffeur, is not obviated by 

 using it in a stove, as carbonic oxide has the power of diffus- 

 ing through red-hot iron. 



In gardening charcoal is largely used for potting purposes 

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

 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 gasses. It is a perfect 

 deodorant, a preservative of food and all animal substances 

 and a valuable disinfectant. The gasses most readily 

 absorbed by charcoal are those which are most prejudicial to 

 health and which are most frequently produced by putrefac- 

 tive 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 puta 

 it before all other disinfectants. 



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