Farmers' gazette, and Cheraw advertiser. (Cheraw, S.C.) 1839-1843, October 20, 1841, Image 1
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VOLUME VI. CHfciRAW. SOUTH-CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1841. NUMBER 49.
By M .MAC LEAlf.
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? . .
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,
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