1 54< Increasing Plants by Cuttings, ^c, 



Result of the Experime7its made by the Application of Charcoal 

 for the Propagation of Plants by Cuttings, Sfc. By M. G. 

 Lucas, Royal Botanic Gardens, Munich. 



In laying my experiments on this subject before the public, I 

 only regret, that, owing to the shortness of the time, they are 

 not more full and perfect. It is my earnest endeavour to pursue 

 this subject further, and to lay my yet uncertain and future 

 observations before the lovers of plants. The experiments 

 hitherto made are divided into those made with cuttings, and 

 those with parts of leaves, and other parts of plants. I have 

 arranged them according to the length of time the different 

 plants took to show their capability of rooting. As many ex- 

 periments took place in autumn, and the specimens could not 

 always be selected to correspond in size, there is no great cer- 

 tainty to be attached to it, but I know of no better way of 

 enumerating them. At the end I thought it necessary to give a 

 list of those sorts of plants which have not succeeded in being 

 propagated in charcoal. I have only to beg further, that my 

 communication may be looked upon, by all lovers and friends of 

 gardening, only as a zealous endeavour to do my utmost in my 

 calling, and may be received accordingly. 



A division of the hothouses of the botanical garden here con- 

 tains a bed which is warmed by means of a tube of sheet iron, 

 instead of tan. This bed is filled with charcoal cinders about 

 three quarters of a foot high, and is chiefly used for keeping 

 young and tender plants. These cinders are for no other pur- 

 pose but to prevent the mould on plants, a disease which so 

 frequently occurs in tan-beds ; and they answer the purpose per- 

 fectly well, for, besides preventing mould, they harbour neither 

 worms nor woodlice. At the front and warmest part of this bed, 

 where the pipe enters, are suspended several boxes with glazed 

 sashes as covers. In these boxes plants are propagated through- 

 out the year, partly in pots and partly in mould. In one of these 

 boxes I made experiments in rooting cuttings in charcoal cinders. 

 I must also mention that this bed had a slight fire-heat through- 

 out the summer ; it was so slight, however, that it had no effect 

 but on the front part devoted to the cuttings. The charcoal used 

 in these experiments is fir charcoal, the refuse of which, being 

 too fine to be burnt, may be had in quantities from smithies and 

 gentlemen's houses without payment. It is sifted through a 

 coarse earth sieve, to separate the large pieces that are often 

 found in it, and which would only be troublesome, and it is then 

 used without further preparation ; it ought to be observed, how- 

 ever, that these ashes are more suitable, and answer the pur- 

 pose better, when they have been for some months exposed to 

 the influence of the air and weather. In the propagating box it 

 is laid 4 in. thick over the bottom, as a deeper layer would pre- 



