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<" v , v : -p v :\,..^ -, . ;v(. , . ^-, *wWmi 'fyptfcs '.* % . . *? Tff* &$tw <?wffiB&w s.wirmmwwm* VOLUME VI. CHfciRAW. SOUTH-CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1841. NUMBER 49. By M .MAC LEAlf. T?**t:? Published weekly at three dollar$ a year; with an addition, when not paid within three months, of twenty per cent per annum. Two new subscribers inay take the paper at fire dollars in advance; and ten at twenty. Four subscribers, not receiving their papers in tewn. may pay a year's subscription with ten dollars, Sn advance. A year's subscription always due in advance. Papers not discontinued to solvent subscribers in arrears. Advertisements not excoeding 16 lines inserted er one dollar the first time, and fifty cents each nbsequent time. For insertions at intervals of two weeks 75 cents after the first, and a dollar if the intervals are longer. Payment due in advance for advertisement*. When the number of insertions is not marked on the copy, the advertisement will be inserted, and charged til . trdered out. IT The postage must be paid on lettersto the editor on the business of the office. ? . . From the Journal of the R iyal Agncal ursl Socioty. Experiments on Nitrate of Soda and Wit *rDL?TD u vj.iKir m nr?* BT W. STRATFORll S>OU?DALK, M. f. Many communications have been for. warded ?o the society on the value of saltpe're and nitrate of soda as mamirea, perhaps the result of an experiment I have made upon two fields of wheat, eight ^ miles distant from each other, may not j * be uninteresting. One field is of a light j gravelly .'oi1 which was manured with a j coat of ni:*r{ in the autumn l?efore the j wheat was sown. The other field is of a | stiff clavt'y soil, and was manured with i lime in the autumn, \hout tiio middle of las' \pril I measured otf three quar. tera of an acre in the field of gravelly soil, and owed one quarter with saltpetre, one wirh nitrate of sodn, and loft the u..* *i , ? renri n.'n^ quarrer wun iiuwmig uuv iue mnrl. * I also nurtured off four quarters of an 1 orre in flic clayey field, and sowed one quarter wi*h saltpetre, one with nitrate of sod: oi;e with soot, and left the re. ( maining quarter with lime only. In both cases tfte quantity of sultpetre and soda was as one hundred weight to the acre. In the gnivelj\ field 'the produce of the quarter of an acre with nitrate of soda was, of? Whsnt 13 bu. 2 pks. weighing 63J lbs. pr. bu. Straw 9 cwt. 72 lbs. '< Chaff mm waste, 2 qrs. 271b*. ( 8 ah pure.? WJie ?t 10 hi: 21 pks. weighing 64| lb* pr bu. ' Straw 8 cwt. 68 lbs. i Chaff and wnt?, 3 qrs. 24 lbs. Marl only,? Wheit in l?u 2 pk.rt. weighing 64 lbs. pr. bu. I Straw 8 cwt. 64 lbs. | Chaff and waste 1 cwt. In the clayey Hold:?The produce of half an < acre, m-utur*d with? I Nitrate of soda, whent 18 bu. I pk, weighing 64 pr. bu. j Do. with salip-. j1 ire 17 Kn. 2 pk?. weighed 53 pr. hu. Do. with wot 17 bu. 1 pk, weighed 63| pr bu. Do. with iiino on. ly 16 bu. weighing 62| Ibf. pr. bu. a In thin experiment my bailiff did not . measure tbo quantities ot straw and waste. I also sowed some soda and saltpetre, to the same amouut per acre, on some grass, land. I was not at hdme when the hay was , cut; but am informed that the crop was j greatly increased, particularly by the ni? ( trate of soda. From the S. C Temperance Advocate. 1 Newberry Agricultural Sociery. I As the Agricultura. Society of Newberry District has elected me one of the i Committee to report on the raising of . Wheat and Potatoes. I comply with their requests, first on ' Wheat. Wheat requires its own natu- ' ral soil, which is red laud. Though it ! may be raised on sandy soil with clay ? bottom, if well managed. 1 would prefer old land to raise wheat on, and it manu- !' red with cotton seed, as it is much the 1 1 easiest applied to the land, and I believe i1 it to be as good a manure as we have for :' raising wheat. My mode in raising is | something like this. To sow corn land, j I gather oft* my corn as soon as it will ; hear it; then pasture the stalk field, un- j til it is clean. I then cut the stalks and ! sprout the land : and about the middle of Octolrer, commence sowing niv blue stern j or any other late wheat. My manner in I sea-1< ring cotton seed, is to lay the lands t off ;'0 feet wide, if you are very careful you may sow the seed out of me wagon, whilst i? is going along the land. But if I care lie n<-r lukcn, it will be thrown in'piles. I have sown in this way, and had 1' it well put on the lann ; and I have had them tnrown in pij< s, an i lifted 111 husk- i ets, and scatter in th;.t way. The j amount of seed per acre, is a matter : which depends very much on the strength of the lan! sown. This is a matter farmere will have to judge for themselves. But I will give mv o,>ini-..i on the subject. Land that would produce 5 bushels per aero w.t.iou manuring, would produce | double me amount will. 25 bushels of cot-1 ton seed per acre. 1 prefer wheat being ploughed in wit*. a narrow shovel, and | tnat well don *. And as your land is ploughed, have it followed with hoes, j chop round the trees and stumps, also all i the the corn roots and turfs of grass ifany;: leaving the ground perfectly smooth.? This plan I consider far better than i brushing or harrowing. I would pursue the same plan in early as in late wheat, only sow it later. The first or middle of November. I will give you my views about the smut, which is very disastrous among us. Remedy.? j Soaking with a solution of hluestone will i cortainly prevent it. You should prepare yourself with a tight vessel, and in I < it put 3 pounds of hluestone, and as much < water as will he sufficient to cover 6 1 bushels of wheat, and let it soak 24 hours, i when this is taken out, put in 2 pounds ! i more of hluestone, and add a little more I water for waste, and stir well your 6 ? bushels again, and so on. What you I soak in one day you sow the next. Ex> > perience has taught me this i? a sure and i infallible remedy. [ sow about one bush* I el to the acre generally; thick sowing I .i t _r .i ; i prevent in*? rusts* i hui ui mc uuprr?sioa that trie thrash machine was the first, and is the general cause of smut, for I have sown the bluestem wheat for twen- i ty.six years in succession, and never j missed but one crop, and that was occa- ' sionec hy the fly, and in all (hat time, I < never had one grain of smut thut I per- i ceived. I I pursued the old Dutch rule. I hall, i ed hiy wiieat to my barn ami trod out 1 with my horses aud threw it with my | shovel fo* the purpose o cleansing it, i And for 8 ed, I took the head of it.? S fied it well with the seive, and I never i had the occasion of using hlueatone nor 1 any other remedy. I let others have of I my seed, and they soon complained of smut. L ist year I had a thrasher built, i and thrashed my wheat for the first, and I I sowed a few lands of my hluestcm with, i out soaking, and it had the smut for the ? first time. I I have raised for the last three years, i some of what is called the red spring i wheat, and i am very much pleased with ! < it. I soaked it and made a fair trial. We lackec about two lands of finishing the field. That was sown with seed unsoak. ed, and <t was perhaps one fifth smut, the other that was soaked in bluestone I never saw the first gra??* of smut. < I have tried scvral kinds of wheat, i find the old bluestem and red spring f wheat has proved the most successful I with trie. 1 SWEET POTATOES. i The best plan of raising sweet pota- f toes, agreeable to my experience, is as i follows: Some warm spell in March, I would i say, about the m.ddie. Take your seed I potatoes from the stack, seller, or where < they have been preserved during the w in. j ter. Sort out such seed as you would like to plant, end bed them in fresh earth, some potatoes and some earth, until you have as many as you need. Then leave 1 the bed exposed to the weather until planting time. In so doing, the potatoes ' will sprout. Prepare your ground, which 1 should be sandy soil if you have it. Old ' land is host if manured. Cowpen land is preferable. Any other manured land ! will do, except hog pen. 1 have tried hog.pen and hog manure three times, and j it has failed every time. The potatoes ? will coine up very bad, and directly begin j to fire, and finally die. You should , plough your ground by the middle of < March, and continue to plough it about \ ptvery ten days until the 15th or 20th of 1 April; then check your land three and a i half feet, and make your hills small, then raise your seed carefully, about three in ? i hill. I believe cutting the potatoes in small pieces to be injurious. Plant them whole. If you should wish to plant in ridges, cut a channel on the top of the ridge and lay in it a potatoe every 10 or 12 inches. Planting at this season, the potatoes will come up in a few days, and j grow finely. Whereas, if planted early they will not. When they want work, plough and j draw up-dirt with a hoe. Which of those j two plans is best, I can hardly say, al- t though I believe the ridge will make the t most, hut the hill the largest. ( I have planted yam potatoes for seve. I ral years, and generally bed my seed in < March. In doing this, I scrape a little \ of the surface off about 2 inches, and lay ' the potatoes thick on the ground, and 1 cover with the soil very light; plough your patch as before directed, until the piants come up from 4 to 6 inches high. When therr is appearance of rain, make j as many rioges as you have plants for.? t When you get a season, set your plant.- i in as you would cabbage or any other j plants, 10 inches apart, and as the plants . I L. J. ..A. I c. occuiuc inrgf cnougo, sei uui n? ut*n?f j directed I believe they will bring a tol- t erablo good crop, when planted as late as t the 4th of July. i Hut the sooner the better. Sometimes | however, we get no seasons, and can ' hardly raise them in this way. There- < fore, I have tried planting them in this ' way. Therefore, I have tried planting ' them in the bill and ridge as other potatoes, and have been successful in raismg ) them in this way. I raised the largest ones last year I ever saw they weighed y as high as seven and a half pounds. I have the red, Spanish and the vam ; the red grows large, but of them all, I think most of yam. The next is how to preserve them during Che winter. I have tried reveral plans, and the plan most successful, is in hill or stack. Scrape out a hole about 4 inches deep, and as round as you well ran, large enough to hold 25 or 30 bushels ; then place heart pine boards in the ( Kottom; then pine straw, a good layer under and over the potatoes. Then stand corn stalks very close all around the straw. Then cover with dirt. The stacks should be covered so as to keep the rain and cold from them. Perhaps I should say something about the time and manner of digging I The. vine* abound he well frost bitten before digging, and I am of the impression that they ought to be let stand several days after frost.? The potatoe hull or peeling will harden very much hy sranding, and the potatoe is not half so upt to bruise and injure in putting away, and I believe if the potatoe vines were all cut otf as soon as frost hit. ten, it would be an advantage to the polatoe, for when the vine is frost bitten, the sap is inclined to run back to the potatoe, and if the vines were cut otf, it would prevent the sap's returning. The potatoe would be dryer, and perhaps not rot so soon. My common mode of gathering them s with the plough) first dragging l- e i vines awav, then plough the hill or ridge followed with hoes. IRISH POTATOES ire a potatoe that I have never planted ! largely, although I raise cnougu for my j use. I generally plant them in Fetiru. iry, and have manured with several kinds of manure. Stable, cotton seed, 'otten straw, and hogs ha>r, the last named, (hogs hair,) I believe, cxcelisall ithers, dry as it seems to he. GEORGE BOZEY. Juty 22d, 1841. Driving Nails into hard Wood.? We have lately seen another experiment >f diiving nails into hard seasoned timber airly tried. The first two nails, after >as?ing through a pine board, entered a. tout one inch, and then doubled under he hammer; but,on dipping the points >f the other six or eight nails into lard, jvery one was driven home vrichout the east difficulty. Carpenters who arfe engaged in repair. I ngold buildings sometimes carrv a. small O O * uinp oflard or tallow for this purpose on one of their boots or shoes.?New Genesee Farmer. A NEWLY.DISCOVERED SALT 8PR.ING.? \ salt spring has beep opened in the town jf Galen, county of Wayne, (N. Y.,) atout fifty rods from the Erie canal, on the and of the Rev. Dr. Judd, of Ithaca, with :he fairest prospect of tho best of brine, II ' ind even of the fossil salt, as is evidenced iv compaiing tlv borings in Europe and he late boring near Abingdon in Virgina, with the report of the engineer em>loyed at Galen. The diameter of the :ube bored is 4 inches, and *230 feet deep, rhe vein is strong, and continues to run irofusely over the tube, destroying nil vegetation within its reach. It is un. sornmonly pure, producing the finest salt vithout the use. of lime. ( The brine is breed up by the gas with a violence known 10 where else.?Rochester Dem. Some Notices of the recent Experiments made in the Propagation and growth of Plants, in Charcoal. Extracted from the translation in the Garden Magazine, from the 44 Garton Zeitungers Since the publication of Liebeg's Organic Chemistry, charcoal seems to have lecome a more important substance in regetation, and to possess more valuable iroperties than heretofore has been supwised. Recent experiments in Germany i ive resulted in placing it as one of the nost important agents in the propagation >f plants, which has ever been dis sovered. The theory of its operating ins been explained by some of the German writers, which we shall have iccasion to notice in our remarks. Relieving the subject to be one of mportancc to all cultivators of plants, we have devoted a few pages to a notice ?f the experiments which have been made in Germany, and which are,; it the present time, attracting attention n England, by the publication of several irficles translated from the "Garten X?i> wig?, ot germany, in the Garde.ler'sM/a;azine. The discovery of the method of grew, tig plants in charcoal was first made by ML Lucas, an assistant in th- Royal Botonic Garden of Munich He olwerved M-verai plants in the hot-house, thai ,f,ere >lunged in charcoal ashes, [tho dust,) or he refuse of charcoal, showed an extra* .rdinary vigor of growth, as soon us t ley lad pushed their roots through the holes n the bottoms of the pots, into the'charcoal Among other plants which exhibited this rigorous growth so strikingly, was the rhunbergia alnta, which ripened its seed without impregnation. M. Lucasjstrucks with the apj^axtneoof the plants, thought ? ? it would be well to follow up the experi- i ment: this he did bj' adding a proportion i of charcoal powder to the usual mixt toil. | in which plants were already rooted, and i also by using it pure for cuttings, instead 1 of sand. Weshall divide the subject into i three parts, viz:?Propagating Cuttings | in Charcoal?Charcgal as amixtuic with earth?=nnd the Theory of its action on i Vegetatioh. > Propagation in Cutting Charcoal.?M. 1 Lucas, fiefore proceeding with a record of his labors, describes the mode in which I his beds were prepared for the insertion j of the cutting. He states that small i boxes are 8us,>cnded in the front part of a < bed, [on the inside.) in the hot-house, i which bed is warmer! by means of a lube I of sheet iron, instead of tan. The boxes < bat* ?a?hes f6f covers : in one of these boxes he madn the first experiment. The charcoal used for the purpose wns, fir, [pine,] the refuse of which, being too I fine to be burnt may he had in anv quan- 1 tity. It is sifted through a coarse earth aiofn tn spnarnta ttiM larrra monoa tlmf n rr? i usually mixed up with it, and is then used without further preparation. The charcoal, he remarks, is better if it has laid ex- | posed to the influence of air and weatherIn -the propagating box. it is laid only four inches thick in the bottom, as a deep- |i er layer would prevent the access of beat. J i charcoal, as is well known being a bad conductor. Thus prepared, the cuttings I were put in. Cut tings of the following! plan's, placed in charcoal rooted in right ! I to fourteen days ?ffunitorbia fulzens ; and picta, lor.mae a purg*\ n id I. suporbs, Hakea microcarpa, Lokcllin nietn. Thumbergia aluta. Lvcestria formosa, Fe-is religiosa and pcndola, Begonia fa^-.folia, saguinea, and dipelain, Tronic olum inajus fl. pi., and several o:her plants. Cut- j ting of the Cacti family planted in c!-a- j coal, were particularly successful : of1 some hundred specimens thaf had been dried for some days previously in the r.i<- , about twenty succeeded pp.feet . among them were some echinocaetiises melocr.ctuses, and marmliaries. rnanv of them from j ene and a halflo three inches in diameter. ; Cereuses and epiphyllums rooted ren-Jily, and in this short space of time the roots of many of the species were six inches long ; other succulunt plants rooted quickly* In from a fortnight tojthree weeks the following, very difficult of propagation : ?-Piper nigrum. Aster tomentons, Mimosa Houstoni, Barlerin, bystrix, Alnus harbisa, and rinny others. In from three tofo ir weeks :?Croton adenophvlla, Dracaena humhlis, Pandanus amarvllidifolius, and several others. In from six weeks to two months, a few exceedingly hard plants to grow, rooted in the charcoal. These being the first experiments, some of which did not succeed well, allowance must be made for the newness of the method, and other circumstances attended upon resorting to new systems. M. Lucas was also highly successful in rooting leaves and parts of leaves of var ions plants, some of which were the following:?Lophospermurn sennden. Conlamen indicutri, Sinnigia guttata, gloxima, <kc. It will be seen that many slow rooting plants have been more speedily rootedthan by the ordinary method of propagation, and we trust that future experiments, conducted with care by our amateur gardeners, will show more particularly its resuits. Application o f charcoal as a mixture of earth.?The success which attended M. Lucas in his mode of inserting cuttings in charcoal, induced hi in to try it for another purpose, via., using it as a mixture witn various sorts of earth. It here also showed its extraordinary effects, by the luxuriance and more pefect development of the plants ; it was particularly the case with tuberous rooted plants. A bed appropriated to the growth of j seedling plants un po's, plunged in charcoal, was cleaned out and made ready; 9 I for the reception of a lot of arums, begonias, gloxinias, &c. : the pots were plunged in the charcoal to the run, and the surface of the soil covered with loose mould from a dung bed. These tubers soon | snoi up vigorously, but owing' to trie trnme , being wanted where it was intended to remove them in the .summer, they were allowed to rornnin. The plants absorbed i a great deal, and needed water every day, I When the pots were taken up in the fail, i it was found that the roots had grown j, over and under the pots, and penetrated j( into the charcoal and grown so strong i, that it was absolutely necessary to replant j the iubers in la-ger pots, f.iiarcrv-il was ( of course mired with earth in rr potting, | , in the proportion of rather more than one 1, half. Every plant soon showed extraordiuary luxuriance under ibis treatment; some were particularly rich in t n oflo il*. Ji.* /v.. /I?i rI.' oe a .4 I k/? I f atrilUCt WIG urn . !( n niu I peri(?d of the duration of the dower- uiu- j sml'y long. Some small tubers from ! which no flowers were expected the first' year, flowered beautifully. S- no grew beautifully, and <ever. : k fi \Je ican eurhoihias showed The application of ch.vcc a' " "Q'of sickly trees, was not U se su o . I . M. Lucns states thai an or.?nge ft o vii?. i yellow ieavea. having had a ?.?\e? of coal laid on, after the surface soil was re- j moved, soon recovered its vigor; ane this ! | wati also the case with gardenias. Of the i ( quantity to be used, there is no particular \ ' ^ rule: half charcoal may be used without injury, observing only that it has heen exposed to the influence of the weather for some time, and the large pieces removed: i watering must not he neglected, as the soil is rendered more |>orous, and the moisture passes off rapidly. Many other experiments were tried, luch as sowing seeds in charcoal : ferns, sown directly on the surface of a pot of charcoal, vegetated quickly and well. M. Lucas observes, that his employer, the court gardener, M. Seitz, acfknowledjed the importance of the U9e of charcoal, ind will practise a number of systematic experiments upon plants in the open air, in ordea that a " well grounded opinion on the application of charcoal ashes in general eon ne formed." Theory of M. Lucas's Experiment on the Effect of Charcoal in Vegetation.?Dr. Buckner has published an account of the lh<?ory of M. Lucas's experiments in the 14 Garten Zeitbng," the substance of which we give below, the original article occupying several pages. The experimnnfd nf \f T.nr>na Hotnilorl nliAVO aru VIIVV V| 1*BI AJIIVU^ UVtllllVU ??wvv Vf Ml V thought by Dr. Buckner to be very im-. portunt contributions to vegetable physiology and dietetics, nnd his remarks are made with a view to introduce a clear scientific notion of the effects of charcoal on vegetable life. These effects are founded, undouutedly, on several laws, of which the following appears the most important. 1 Ahsorbtion of light and generation of heat.?It is well known that bodies re ceive the light of the sun more perfectly. he darker, duller, and looser they are. and the consequent development of heat is in proportion of light. As charcoal dust is one of the darkt^t, dullest, and most porous bodies, it must, on account of its peculiar capacity of receiving the sun's light and changing its heat, be parti -ularlv favorable to vegeteble life. 2. Absorption of atmospherical air.? \ mong all porous bodies that have the cajuicity of absorbing gases and vapors, charcoal has been proved, by numesous experiments, to bold the first rank. Modern physiologists are, for the most part of opinion that plants can receive no solid nourishment from the earth, that is, that every thing they can assimilate (or digest) must be in a liquid and gaseous or vapory state. If we, therefore; meet wi hsolicious earth, chalk, magnesia, oxide of iron, in short such substances in plants ascould only be received from the soil, we may always consider it certain that these sorts of matter can only he absorbed by the roots in proportion as they are in a fluid or dissolved state in the soil. These sorts of matter, and particularly the different organic salts which we find in the ashes of vegetables, are not actually to be considered sources of nourishment; but stimulants to assist in digestion, as salt and spice are to the higher animals and man. In connection with the subject Dr. Buckner introduces a treatise by M. Payen, read before the Academy of Sciences at Paris, on the 8th and 14th October, 1829, vizThat charcoal operates as a condenser, under the influence of water, on the constituent parts of the air, in the manner as spongy platinaon the elemeuts of detonating gas ; so that nitrogen and oxygen are dissolved, and. mixing with wuter, are absorbed by the spongioles, and carried to the cambium for assimilation. This property of condensing the air, and making it fit to be received bv plants, j does not exclusively belong to charcoal; j but charcoal powder appears to possess j this power in the highest degree, conse- j quently, besides light and heat, is capable of carrying to the roots both air and water, i. e. nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen, j in the greatest abundance. 3. Decomposition of the charcoal, and i formation ofa nourishing substance for plants.?For a long time it was generally believed that charcoal, as an inanimate body, incapable of decay, contii >uted in no degree to the nourishment of plants, and that charcoal dust codld only serve | at most to make the earth looser and j warmer. But M. Lucas found from his ; experiments, that the charcoal, in which j plants grow, by degrees undergoes dicom. j position, and at last becomes a sort of humus. This obviously takes place j, inerelv because the charcoal dust acts as humus, and with the cooperation of water hruiair. continually gives out to the plants oxid-s of charcoal, or carbonate, together with the saline particles whfch ! are in the charcoal and remain in the ash. i es after burning. Bui to prove this, some 1 chemical experiments were necessary. 4. Comparative chemical exa mina of charcoal dust.?The more perfectly to establish the theory of the effect of char, coal on vegetation, M. Lucas gave nie for examination. 1st. Ashes of fir [or pine] charcoal, in which no plant had grown. 2d. Ashes of fir charcoal, in which i plants had been grown for half a year, i [This was used for most of the experi. i ments.) i 3d. A portion of charcoal dust which had been used for another purpose for '*o years [to till up a bed for plunging in p! ch's.] With these material Dr. Buckoer , m'uij following experiments, which we extract entire ( Two drachms of them were reduced to i fine powder, and digested in three ounoes ( distilled water for twepty.fouf hou,rs. j All the three qnantitise filtered off from the charcoal, were urn o nred, and left the test appear unchanged. A 'terthe evapor. ation of the water, there remained only a very trifling yellowish residura of a saltish taste, which acted somewhat like an alkali, and, besides potash, contained also chlorine. No difference could be distinguished in the case between a. b. andc. The portions of charcoal powder to which water had been applied, were each separately dgested in a sand bath that a three ounces of water, to which a drachm of corrosive lie of potash was added. The liquid filtered from a was almost colorless, and was not the leasi|muddy when satur&:ed with muriatic acid. The liquid from b was brownish, and with muriatic acid, yielded 0.43 grains of huinic acid. Two drachms of each of the three portions of charcoal were reduced to a^hrs in the platina crucible. The ashes of et weighed twenty-two grains, and lost, by shaking with distilled water, one grain it weight- The ashes of b yielded only oine grains of ashes, of which only half a grain was dissolved by the water. The ashes ot c, on the contrary, weighed thirty-three grains; apparently because the charcoal powder, while in use for two years, had become fouled with garden mould : of these thirty.three grains of ashes, two grains wore dissolved in water. The constituent parts of the three persons of ashes retained their qualities; so that in the dissolved parts were found potash, chalk, carbonic acid, sulphuric acid, muriatic acid, and phosphate. The portion indissoluble in water contained chalk, magnesia, traces of oxide of iron, carbqnate acid, phosphate and silicic acid. If the objection be made, with respect to these three portions of charcoal, that ihcy arc not all from the same tree and might therefore yield a different weight of ashes, we may, with probability, suppose that this natural difference is very inconsiderable, as the charcoal was all of fir wood from the neighborhood of Munich, where limestone debris is the general un derslralum of the Woods. The result is quite decisive and undisputed, that diluted lie of potash scarcely ever dissolves any thing from fresh fir charcoal, and that, on the contrary, char, coal in which plants have grown, being partly changed into bumus and this be. ing drawn out by diluted lie of potash, amounted in the charcoal 6, after six months use, to 2.25, and in the charcoal c. after being two years in use, to 3.76 of 100. By this it is also proved, that char, coal, under the influence of light, of air, water, and vegct.lion, is gradually decomposed, by losing carbon; in the place ot' which hydrogen and oxygen predominate, and concur with the reioaius of carbonate to form hutnic acid. No lesa interesting is the further comparison of the ashes of virgin the charcoal a and the charcoal which had been used half a year for vegetation; in this instance a and b were in the pro. portion of 122 to 75 of ashes frond 1000 of charcoal. Undoubtedly the dissoluble salts were, in pioportion to the increasing decomposition of the charcoal, absorbed by tha roots. That the greater weight of the ashes of c is not decisive, has been a I. ready mentioned. To make very correct experiments of this sort, charcoal from the same tree should be burnt, equally reduced to powder, and, in planting in this powder, all impurities of garden mould, &c., carefully avoided, and watering the plants with rain water attended to. 5. Antiseptic powder of charcoal.? The antisceptic powers of charcoal are of great importance,, for it has very little powerjof retaining water, and the little it reidinn is partly absorbed by the roots and partly evaporated. This property de. servesthe greates attention ifgardeners in respect to the recovei.ng the health of plants, I be roots of which have become injured by being in a clayey soil, and too freely watered or after continued rein, or being in conatct with manure not sufli. ciontly decomposed. They should be immediately transplanted into charcoal powder, as the most effectual method of cure. In concluding this article, which we have condensed as moo as possible, and that the same time preserve all the necessary information, in order that <vir readers may understand the experiments and be able to repeat them, we cannot ire recommended the trial of experiments bv our amateur cultivators of the use of cbaicoal, in propagating plants, as well as in renovating sickly and diseased ones. No particular care is necessary, nor are wo aware that there is any material difference in the qualities of charcoal: oak, maple and pine are often brought to market to* gether, and may be obtained in mixture, or may Ire separated and used by themselves after they have been powdered. As we understand it, the only care is to pow der and sitt tne charcoal, using only the dust, which may be put into a box o*pot. as is usual with common soil, and the cuttings inserted.; We shall institute some experiments ourselves, and give the results in our pages. Thoae of our friends? who may adopt ML Lucas's plan, will, we trust, keep some record of their operations and send us an account of them. A list of the p'ants experimented upon.?the length ot time which they required to root, and other particulars connected with ibeir|ro ?th, wou'dbe s et ting, and fur. piph some data by which others might be guided in further experiment ?Jiortie*L ? . iural Magazine, -;