363 
APPLICATION OF PEAT CHARCOAL TO HORTICULTURAL 
PURPOSES. 
Mr. Cuthill, the florist, of Camberwell, has sent me the 
following information on this subject : — 
Geraniums These luxuriate in a mixture of 3 per cent. 
of pure charcoal to 1 per cent, of mould. In this material 
they make good saleable plants in half the usual time. Cut- 
tings strike freely either in the pure charcoal or in the 
mixture. 
Cucumbers For these I mixed the charred peat with 
mould during the winter, and when the plants were put into 
it, they grew famously and produced a heavy crop. The peat 
charcoal not only yields nutriment, but it affords good 
drainage. Cucumber tops strike root freely in pure charred 
peat. 
Melons.— These succeed in a mixture of charred peat 
and soil, equally well with the cucumbers ; and if a large 
proportion of the soil consist of peat, I am of opinion that 
the flavour of the fruit will be improved, more especially in 
cloudy, sunless seasons. 
Potatoes. — I have found those manured with charred 
peat drier and more mealy than others to which farmyard 
manure was applied. In the former the foliage and stalks 
are more compact and firm, and when taken up the tubers 
were found to be clean-skinned. In my case no wireworm came 
near them. Where potatoes are pitted in long ridges in the 
open ground, a layer of peat between them and the soil helps 
to keep them dry, and if this heap could be covered with it 
below the straw, it would also be an advantage. 
Strawberries grow admirably in charred peat, mixed 
with soil, and in the case of pot plants, they like a handful of 
the pure peat placed in the bottom of the pots. This latter 
has a tendency to prevent the ingress of worms, which do not 
appear to like the sharp edges of the charcoal. 
