148 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 4. 
getting in ice, and the way to keep it in conical heaps, 
without any ice-houses; but I must remind people that 
not a chance should be lost, in case we may have such 
a mild winter as the last, when half the people in the 
country got no ice at all. As soon as the ice is an inch 
thick, it is as good, and will keep just as long, as if it 
j were as thick as that from America—besides, it is much 
j easier pounded. Last winter we thought ourselves badly 
off because we did not get a sufficient quantity to fill 
the old ice-house quite full; still we had enough for the 
whole season, although we began to draw it a month 
earlier than usual. The real value of letting in a cur¬ 
rent of air over the ice was never more apparent than it 
turned out to be this very season. Under the old sys¬ 
tem of keeping the ice stifled with straw in the passages, 
this ice-house, though filled brimful, used to be empty 
by the end of August; but last winter we could not fill 
it, there were seven feet of empty space on the top; on 
this we put four inches of straw, and over that the air 
rushed in and out as it listed, and we had plenty of ice 
in October. 1). Beaton. 
GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW 
GARDENING. 
Charcoal, its uses for Plant Culture, &c. —No 
greater error exists amongst amateurs than the preva¬ 
lent idea, that gardeners in largish places never need 
sigh after the unattainable, nor experience the freezing 
damp of failure; the means and accommodation at 
their disposal being seemingly so unbounded, and the 
purse in which, of course, they insert their fingers at 
pleasure, being next to unfathomable in its depths and 
dimensions. On the contrary, however, it will be found, 
to a great extent, that even in large places, the most 
striking results are frequently obtained by the simplest 
means. The very extent of the materials required, 
and the necessity for abundance and display at all 
times, and not lor a few months only now and then, 
renders, in nineteen cases out of twenty, a pleasing 
result, all the more pleasing in proportion as the 
£. s. d. part of the affair enters not as a dark shade 
on the otherwise bright picture, and this often imposes 
on the gardener, if he means to work for any certain 
object, the necessity of resorting to make-shifts and 
conveniences, which, if duly chronicled, would stagger 
the first buddings of envy in many a grumbling cosey 
! amateur. Hence, though The Cottage Gardener, 
more than any other work, is distinguished for its 
attention to first principles, and the detailing of the 
simplest modes of action, particularly for the lovers of 
gardening with limited means, I have long felt that 
these simple details would be of advantage to no 
parties so much as to practical gardeners themselves. 
For instance, in our desire to descend into the minutiae 
of matters, we speak of potting a plant in so much 
loam, so much peat, so many broken crocks, and so 
much of pieces of freestone; and we do it all for the 
purpose of letting others follow the identical practice 
that succeeded best with ourselves, and yet, ten to one 
but the very minuteness of the details, if they conjure 
not up the ideas of empiricism, are too likely ito be 
associated with the bewiiderable and the unattainable. 
“ Well,” sings out an amateur, “ I had made up my 
mind to grow that plant, but now, how am I to get 
that freestone in this clayey, chalky district, without the 
expense and the trouble of sending some hundred miles 
for a bushel of chips?” And here again grumbles out a 
young gardener, “ peat , and I have not got a bit left, 
and none within thirty miles of me, and that like any¬ 
thing but the beautiful stuff that they get about London, 
from Wandsworth Common; though even about that 
nearer hand, master, generally so kind, did so grumble. 
Ah, deary me! ” And if a Scotchman, in go the ends 
of the fingers of the left hand among the hair, at a place 
on the left temple between the ear and the back of the 
head, in order that by arousing into action some slum¬ 
bering bump there, a responsive echo should be given 
to the question, “ What shall I do ? ” 
The power of generalising, so as to be able to substi¬ 
tute one thing, easy of access, for another with difficulty 
obtained, is a great step in the right direction. Plants, 
such as Heaths, with fine hairy fibres, cannot be grown 
without peat, or heath soil; almost everything else is 
either too open, or too close, and half-decayed vegetable 
matter is generally too astringent. With the exception 
of these, most of the plants in this department may be 
cultivated well in rough, sandy, fibry loam; in such loam, 
with a portion of decayed vegetable earth, such as rotten 
leaves; or, in such loam again, with a portion of fibry 
peat. The best substitutes for peat, in such circum¬ 
stances, that I have found, are decayed tree leaves, two 
years old, not rotten into mould, but allowed to cake into 
Lumps, and these lumps well dried and aerated before 
being used, when they break are in a filmy, lumpy state, 
and as sweet as a nut;—the other is dried cow-dung, 
gathered from the pastures in a cake like slate, and 
kept under cover for from one to two years. It must 
not be used so freely as peat, though when so obtained, 
its nourishing properties are at the minimum. A little 
practice will render it apparent, that for most of the 
purposes referred to, leaving out of view its antiseptic 
qualities, peat is chiefly used for its mechanical proper¬ 
ties in keeping a soil open and porous. Broken bricks, 
broken potsherds, broken sandstone, broken and whole 
pebbles, when each and all are destitute of any peculiar 
chemical property, act chiefly in a mechanical manner; 
though, to be sure, practice frequently tells us that some 
plants prefer to entwine their roots about one of these, 
at times, in preference to any of the others. We have 
seen that charcoal is antiseptic, even more than peat, 
and that its very lightness eminently fits it as a mecha¬ 
nical agent in potting. It is, generally, easily obtain¬ 
able in the neighbourhoods of all towns ; but though it 
may suit an amateur to buy a bushel or two, like guano, 
it is too expensive to be used liberally in a large place. 
Almost every gardener, and the possessor of a small 
garden, where there is yearly a considerable amount of 
pruning and cutting, may make enough to suit himself, 
and then a person can use it much more liberally. I 
find that for all common plants grown in pots, such as 
Cinerarias, Calceolarias, Geraniums, Salvias, and a great 
proportion of those mixed groups, for which peat and 
loam are mentioned in the books, a man has no need to 
cry to Hercules for help, if he can command a sweet 
fibry loam, some sand, and a few pieces of charcoal. I 
have tried two plants, as much alike as possible, of 
many things, such as Clerodendrons, Begonias, Fuch¬ 
sias, Geraniums, &c., one potted in the most approved 
compost, the other in fibry, sandy loam, kept open with 
nodules of charcoal, and being treated in every respect 
alike; if any difference, the charcoal gentleman had the 
advantage, especially when a little very rotten but sweet 
dung, free from worms and worms’ eggs, was used, either 
along with the compost, or more liberally as top-dress¬ 
ing. Still for all that, peat-earth, even for common 
purposes, is not to be sneezed at, but neither should we 
despair if we cannot lay hands upon it. A few other 
circumstances, connected with the use of charcoal, may 
here be noted. 
First.—When burned, it shoidd be kept close until 
cooled, and receive as little water as possible, and then 
be stored away in a dry place, but with access to the air, 
that it may absorb gases at will. Secondly.—If a pre¬ 
ference is to be given, choose charcoal from six to twelve 
months old. 1 have noticed in the case of orchids, 
cucumbers, and other plants, where the roots were in 
