650 Summary View of the Progress of Gardening^ 



this power that the roots of plants are supplied in charcoal, 

 exactly as in humus, with an atmosphere of carbonic acid and 

 air, which is renewed as quickly as it is abstracted." {Chemistry, 

 8fc., 2d edit. p. 62.) Charcoal therefore, according to this doc- 

 trine, must act as a perpetual manure. 



Some experiments have been made with moss as a substitute 

 for soil (p. 447.) in the rearing and culture of plants ; but no 

 new results have been obtained, unless it be that the means of 

 transplanting are in some cases facilitated. The evils of indis- 

 criminately watering plants in pots immediately after being 

 shifted have been ably pointed out in p. 11. ; and the advantages 

 of stirring the soil, and turning up new soil, in p. 160. and 

 p. 396. 



Agents of Culture. — New manures and new implements are 

 almost every year being brought into notice. The latter we 

 shall advert to in a separate paragraph. Among the new manures 

 the most remarkable is Guano, or the excrements of sea-fowl, 

 brought from Peru, where it has been used as a manure since 

 the twelfth century. By analysis, it consists chiefly of urate 

 of ammonia and other ammoniacal salts, and it requires to be 

 used in very small quantities, otherwise it will destroy vegeta- 

 tion. An artificial guano is prepared in London, which is 

 considered by many not inferior to that from Brazil. There 

 are some other comparatively new artificial manures. Guano 

 is recommended to be mixed, at the rate of 4 bushels, about 

 50 lb. each, and which cost at present about 13s. per bushel, 

 with 1 bushel of powdered charcoal, which will fix the manure 

 by retaining the ammonia in its interstices, and then drilled 

 with green or grain crops, or spread on the ground and har- 

 rowed in with seed. v {Donaldson on Manures, p. 74. See also 

 more at length Squarcy and Ly mourn, in p. 81.) With Daniel's 

 manure we are not at present sufficiently acquainted. While so 

 much manure of the most valuable description is lost or neg- 

 lected in almost every dwelling-house, in many farm-yards, 

 and at many railway stations ; and while as much as would ma- 

 nure two or three counties is produced in the metropolis, only 

 to pollute the water of the Thames ; it seems an unjustifiable 

 extravagance to pay a high price for ingredients of doubtful 

 merit. Be these ingredients what they may, they cannot, 

 except in the cases of bone-manure and guano, prove equal to 

 what we have alluded to as being comparatively neglected or lost. 



Brick-dust has been used successfully, as a substitute for sand, 

 in striking cuttings; and the advantage is that, this material 

 being an absorber and retainer of moisture, less frequent water- 

 ing is required. (See R. Drummond in Gard. Chron., 1842, 

 p. 742.) 



