265 
influences appear to have been even more beneficial than in the 
growth of plants. 
The Charcoal of firs and pines, as far as any difference was 
seen, proved most suitable for use, and was improved by being 
exposed during winter to the action of the atmosphere. That, 
however, obtained from calcined bones seems to have been 
preferable to all others. Mr. Lucas says, “It is superfluous to 
remark, that in treating plants in the manner here described, 
they must be plentifully supplied with water, since the air 
having such free access, penetrates and dries the roots, so, that 
unless this precaution be taken, the failure of all such experi- 
ments is unavoidable. The action of Charcoal consists pri- 
marily in its preserving the parts of the plants with which it is 
in contact — whether they be roots, branches, leaves, or pieces 
of leaves — unchanged in their vital power for a long space of 
time, so that the plant obtains time to develope the organs 
which are necessary for its further support and |)ropagation. 
There can scarcely be a doubt also that the Charcoal under- 
goes decomposition; for, after being used five to six years, it 
becomes a coaly earth ; and, if this is the case, it must yield 
carbon, or carbonic oxide abundantly, to the plants growing in 
it, and thus afford the principal substance necessary for the 
nutrition of vegetables. In what other manner indeed can we 
explain the deep green colour and great luxuriance of the 
leaves and every part of the plants, which can be obtained in 
no other kind of soil, according to the opinion of men well 
qualified to judge ? Its porosity, as well as the power which it 
possesses of absorbing water with rapidity, and, after its satur- 
ation, of allowing all other water to sink through it, are causes 
also of its favourable effects. These experiments show what a 
close affinity the component parts of Charcoal have to all 
plants, for every experiment was crowned with success, although 
plants belonging to a great many different families were sub- 
jected to trial.” 
Mr. Carlton, a correspondent of the Gardeners’ Chronicle, 
visited the Botanical Gardens at Munich, and his evidence in 
favour of the utility of Charcoal is worth repeating. In 
describing a propagating pit, he observes that “Nothing can be 
more simple than the whole apparatus. It is nothing more 
than a common pit, with a flue along the middle, on which is a 
2a3. AnCTABICM. 
