CHARCOAL. 119 



of South America, are slaughtered often for no 

 other purpose, than that their bones, ground 

 into dust, may be exported for the supply of the 

 turnip-fields of England.* 



This branch of our trade, however, may 

 have to be discontinued, as it is expected that 

 a substitute will be found for the use of bones in 

 apatite, or native phosphate of lime, a sub- 

 stance existing abundantly in Spain ; a; cargo 

 of which is either arrived, or is expected to 

 arrive in this country, when the experiment 

 will, we have no doubt, be fairly tried. Even 

 if a supply from this source should fail, there 

 is little doubt but that phosphate of lime might 

 be manufactured at a sufficiently low price to 

 suit the purposes of agriculture. 



Chalk. — See carbonate of lime, (p. 100.) 



Charcoal — This substance is destined for 

 the future, to rank amongst the most valuable 

 accessories that the farmer possesses; in its 

 natural state it is indestructible, and no length 

 of time produces the least effect on its sub- 

 stance, or impairs any of its original attri- 

 butes; and this will be explained to be one 

 of its most valuable properties to the agricul- 

 turist. 



In its natural state it is black, perfectly in- 

 sipid, and free from smell, insoluble in water, 

 brittle, and easily pulverized ; and when secured 

 in close vessels, and the contact of the air en- 

 tirely removed from it, it is unchanged by any 

 degree of heat. 



The peculiar property of charcoal, and the 



* Daubeny. 



