305 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, August 23, 1859. 
evening, and occasionally with manure water. It lias ripened 
its seeds perfectly last year.— Fekdinand Gloede. —( L'Hor- 
ticulleur Praiicien .) 
[We have translated this for our readers in order to call their 
attention to what we believe to be one of the handsomest small 
trees over introduced. It has been in our principal nurseries 
for some time, but is yet little known. The habit of tho tree, 
and, indeed, the shape of the beautiful flowers, resemble the 
Acacia julibrissin; and we have little doubt that where that is 
hardy, this will stand also.— Ed. American Gardener's Monthly .] 
THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 
(Continued from page 294.) 
Manuees may also bo beneficial to plants by affording carbonic 
acid gas to then’ routs. Animal and vegetable matters evolve 
this gas whilst putrefying ; but we uro not aware of any manure 
that absorbs it from the atmosphere, so as to be for that reason 
beneficial to vegetation. Lime attracts carbonic acid gas from 
the air rapidly, but combines with it so strongly, that it is 
useless to the plant until the carbonalo of lime so formed is 
imbibed and elaborated by that plant. 
It is to its power of gradually forming carbonic acid gas that 
charcoal partly owes its value as a manure. The chemical 
operation of charcoal, when employed for this purpose, is by 
no means so well understood as that of most other fertilising 
additions to the land. That the carbon of the charcoal operates 
so beneficially upon plants, amongst other modes by a gradual 
combination with oxygen, hardly admits of a doubt. Liebig 
gives the results of a series of experiments by Lukas on the use 
of charcoal as a manure, which seem to corrobarate his opinion. 
From the facts which these chemists, however, adduce, it is 
evident that the beneficial action of charcoal, as a fertiliser, de¬ 
pends upon the presence of other substances besides carbon. 
Liebig notes ( Organic Chem., p. 62) that “plants thrive in 
powdered charcoal, and may be brought to blossom, and bear 
fruit, if exposed to tho influence of the rain and the atmosphere. 
Plants do not, however, attain maturity under ordinary circum¬ 
stances in charcoal powder when they are moistened with pure 
distilled water instead of rain or river water. Rain w’ater must, 
therefore, contain within it one of the essentials of vegetable life ; 
and it has been shown that this is the presence of a compound 
containing nitrogen: the exclusion of which entirely deprives 
humus and charcoal of their influence on vegetation.” It is 
ammonia, to whose presence in rain water Professor Liebig thus 
refers, in whose valuable work (p. 207) the experiments of Lukas 
will bo found. From these we learn that in a division of a low 
hothouse, in the Botanic Garden at Munich, a bed was sot apart 
for young tropical plants ; but instead of being filled with tan, 
as is usually the case, it was filled with powdered charcoal, the 
large pieces of charcoal having been previously separated by 
means of a seive. The heat was conducted by means of a tube 
of white iron into a hollow space in this bed, and distributed a 
gentle warmth, sufficient to have caused tan to enter into a state 
of fermentation. Tho plants placed in this bed of charcoal 
quickly vegetated and acquired a healthy appearance. As always 
is the case in such beds, the roots of many of the plants pene¬ 
trated through the holes in the bottom of the pots, and then 
spread themselves out; but these plants evidently surpassed in 
vigour and general luxuriance plants grown in the common way; 
for example, in tan. 
M. Lukas then gives a list of several of the exotic plants upon 
which charcoal appears to have produced the most beneficial 
effects. It appeared also to promote the rapid germination of 
seeds. lie then proceeded to try the effects of charcoal when 
mixed with vegetable mould, all of which answered very well. 
“Tho charcoal,” continues M. Lukas, “used in these experiments 
was the dust-like powder of charcoal from Firs and Fines. It 
was found to have most effect when allowed to lie during the 
winter exposed to the action of the air. In order to ascertain 
the elfects of different kinds of charcoal, experiments were also 
made upon that obtained from the hard woods and peat, and 
also upon animal charcoal; although I foresaw the probability 
that none of them could answer so well as that of Pine wood, 
both on account of its porosity and tho case with which it is 
decomposed. The action of charcoal consists primarily in its 
preserving the parts of plants with which it is contact, whether 
they be roots, branches, leaves, &c., unchanged in their vital 1 
power for a long space of time, so that the plant obtains time to 
developo the organs for its further support and propagation. 
There can scarcely be a doubt, also, that the charcoal undergoes 
decomposition ; for, after being used five or six years, it becomes 
a coaly earth. It exercises likewise a favourable influence by 
absorbing and decomposing the matters excreted by the roots of 
plants, so as to keep the soil free from the putrefying substances, 
which are often the cause of the death of tho spongioles. Every 
experiment,” concludes M. Lukas, “was crowned with success, 
although plants belonging to a great many different families were 
subjected to trial.”— (Ibid., p. 211.) 
Professor J. F. Johnston (film, of Ag. Chem., p. 142) recog¬ 
nises the good properties of charcoal as “ a valuable mixture wit h 
liquid manure, night-soil, farmyard manure, ammoniacal liquor, 
or other rich applications to the soil.” And, as he observes in 
another place, when speaking of the fertilising portions of farm¬ 
yard drainage (Trans. High. Soc., 1846, p. 190), “ The only 
substance at present known, by which tho separation of all the 
valuable ingredients from liquid manure can be fully effected, is 
animal charcoal. A sufficient supply of this substance, when 
intimately mixed with the liquid manure, will take up nearly the 
whole of the saline and colouring matters it holds in solution, 
will carry down the substances it holds in suspension, and will 
leave the water nearly pure and colourless. The refuse of the 
prussiate of potash manufactories will liavo this effect, and what 
remains when ivory-black is digested in spirit of salt (muriatic 
acid), will do still better; but this kind of charcoal is neither 
cheap nor abundant, and, therefore, cannot be recommended for 
general use. The refuse animal charcoal of our manufactories 
is now sold for manure at the price of several pounds a ton: 
either those who sell it, or those who use it, might render it still 
more valuable by causing fermenting liquid manure to filter 
through it before it is applied to the land. 
“ But other kinds of charcoal possess this property to a certain 
extent: wood charcoal, reduced to powder, charred sawdust, and 
charred peat, are all capable of being used with advantage in 
extracting the ammoniacal and other salts, which give its value 
to the liquid of our farmyards. Experiment has shown that 
when filtered through a bed of such charcoal, the liquid escapes 
without colour, and almost without taste, while the charred peat 
or sawdust is converted into fertilising manure. A great portion 
of the loss now incurred may be prevented by tho use of 
such kinds of charcoal; and the fertilising substance may, 
through their means, be applied to our crops at seasons of tho 
year for which, in their liquid form, they are not suited. It is 
even capable itself of yielding slow supplies of nourishment to 
plants ; and it is said in many cases, even when unmixed, to be 
used with advantage as a top dressing. In moist charcoal the 
seeds of the gardener are found to sprout with remarkable 
quickness and certainty, but after they have sprouted they do not. 
continue to grow well in charcoal alone,”— (C. W. Johnson's 
Modern Agricultural Improvements.) —J. 
(To be continued.) 
NOTES UPON FEENS. 
Odontosokia tenuieodia. J. Sm. (Synonyme— Havallia 
tenuifolia, Sw.) Fronds lanceolate, two to three feet long, tri- 
piunate; the ultimate divisions wedge-shaped, with simple forked 
veins, bearing one or two cup-shaped involucres at the extreme 
apex of each pinnule. Stipes about ten inches long, of a pale 
brown or amber colour, shining. 
This Fern is a native of the East Indies and Malay Islands. 
It was first raised in Berlin from spores sent home by Mr. Neitncr 
from Ceylon, about four years ago. It is ono of the most graceful 
plants in cultivation, tho pale green colour of the finely-divided 
fronds contrasting well with the lively brown stipes. The generic 
: name refers to the fructification being produced upon the tootli- 
like pinnules. This and the following are the only species of 
Odontosoria to be found at present in our gardens. 
Odontosokia aculeata. J. Sm. (Synonymes— Adiantum 
amdeatnm, Linn., and Havallia aculeata, Sw.) Fronds lanceo¬ 
late, tri-pinnate; pinnules broadly wedge-shaped, with two or 
four forked veins, each lobe terminated by a small oval cup con¬ 
taining the sporangia, Caudex shiny, hard, wiry, and flexuose, 
with numerous recurved spines. 
This is a climbing Fern, a native of tropical America and the 
West Indian islands. The dark brown stems, which are not 
thicker than a quill, extend in every direction, scrambling over 
