356 THE FLORIST. 



than he who in a more propitious soil and climate raises them to the 

 utmost perfection." As this case had ah-eady occupied such a very 

 considerable time no more extracts would be brought forward, as it was 

 not wished to unnecessarily intrude upon valuable time, it being con- 

 sidered that quite sufficient had been said to vindicate defendant in the 

 course he had pursued. 



In summing up it was hoped that very great care and attention had 

 been paid to the evidence as it was brought forward in this case, it 

 being a case that materially affected a very great portion of the public 

 of this country, at least the fruit-growing portion of it, upon the 

 question of economy — economy now being an almost universal motto ; 

 this had been, it appears, one of the principal inducements of the 

 prosecution in bringing forward this case. It had appeared by the 

 evidence that in some places a very considerable outlay had been sub- 

 mitted to, in providing glass walls and coverings of all kinds to ensure 

 crops, while in other places nothing of the kind had been used ; there- 

 fore, to arrive at a conclusion as to which was the most economical 

 system, or the system which gave the best results in accordance with 

 its outlay, the evidence would be examined and analysed. The 

 evidence here having been minutely gone through, it appeared by the 

 analysis that twenty-three of the witnesses had employed the defendant, 

 and out of those twenty-three who had covered there were only five 

 who had deposed to their having good crops, and two spoke to having 

 but middling ones, and the remaining sixteen were all bad. Seven of 

 the witnesses had not protected at all : four of these seven speak to 

 having good crops, the remaining three deposing to their generally 

 having had the best crops upon their trees when unprotected. Eleven 

 of the witnesses speak to their having covered a part of their trees and 

 leaving a part uncovered, and the whole of these eleven speak to having 

 the best crops upon the uncovered trees, thus making in all eighteen of 

 the witnesses who depose to the best crops upon their trees when un- 

 protected. These, it must be remembered, were not isolated cases ; 

 therefore, as they occur throughout a wide extent of country, they could 

 not be influenced by local causes. The next point of the evidence 

 referred to was in regard to the temporary coping so strongly urged by 

 even plaintiff's witnesses, several of whom, who had spoken to their not 

 employing defendant, having used this form of protection, and consider 

 this simple and easy process quite adequate to all their requirements ; 

 but this point would he referred to again in elucidation of some theo- 

 retical points which defendant, in the course of his address, had brought 

 forward, and which it was considered incumbent to touch upon in — to 

 use defendant's own words — a " philosophical point of view." First, in 

 regard to the deterioration of our climate ; if such were the case, from 

 what cause did it proceed ? Was it from increased humidity? — the 

 thorough drainage our lands of late years has undergone at the hands 

 of our agriculturists would lead us to look to a different issue than 

 this. This same rule will also hold good in regard to tlie temperature 

 of our climate, for where water is in the soil no heat can penetrate ; 

 therefore, as the water recedes from the soil through drainage, as surely 

 will heat follow and penetrate that soil ; and as there are at the present 



