A NOTE ON VINE BORDERS. 



307 



Fig. 94. 



blooming season. I have now an old Sir 

 Robert Peel with thirteen such branches 

 springing from its rough wooden arms, and 

 plenty of elbow-room for each; which, at 

 eight blossoms to each, will give a total of 

 above a hundred blossoms ; and I expect 



nearly as many from my Aurora, which 

 some say is the hnnrlsomest Geranium 

 grown. Moreover, if you do not care about 

 the cuttings, you may, by setting it out in 

 the open air after it has flowered, and pro- 

 tecting it from wind and sun for the first 

 day or two, and bringing it in again when 

 sufficiently hardened, have it flower again, 

 and often as well as at first. 



And now, in conclusion, let me recom- 

 mend every cottager's wife to have a plant 

 or two in her window, but not in the bed- 

 room. The very trouble they give, and it 

 is but a little, is beneficial, for it exercises 

 attention. The care they require tends to 

 produce neatness in other things ; and the 

 pleasure with which they repay the care 

 that is given them is a refined, a domestic, 

 and an inexpensive pleasure, and is a means 

 of elevating the tastes and of rendering 

 home attractive. 



A NOTE ON VINE BORDERS. 



BY J. L. COMSTOCK, HARTFORD, CT. 



Dear Sir— The doctrine advanced by Dr. 

 Stevens of New- York, in your number for 

 December, 1849, is so entirely new in ve- 

 getable physiology, that I hope he will ex- 

 cuse me for inquiring how far its truth has 

 been proved by experiment. The princi- 

 ple in question is involved in the following 

 quotation: "Trees grow perfectly well in 

 cities, with their roots under stone flagging, 

 impermeable to every influence from the 

 sun and air, but not of heat. What use do 

 the roots make of air when they get it ? 

 Air, at the roots of plants, is as much out 

 of place as in the stomach and bowels of 

 animals. What little air is about the roots 

 of plants, and in the alimentary canal of 

 animals, is only useful as an agent of de- 

 composition." 



Now Dr. Stevens is the first and only 

 authority I have ever consulted, who de- 



nies that the roots of growing vegetables, 

 of whatever kind, do not require the influ- 

 ence of atmospheric air. Ray and Bayle, 

 long before the discovery of oxygen as an 

 element, ascertained that the seeds of plants 

 would not germinate without the presence 

 of heat, moisture and air. And Scheele, 

 soon after that discovery, found that the 

 vital principle of seeds remained dormant 

 unless they were exposed to the united in- 

 fluence of heat, moisture and oxygen. More 

 recent experiments have confirmed this 

 truth; nor will seeds, grown in nitrogen, 

 carbonic acid, or in a vacuum, unless vital 

 air, however small in quantity, be also 

 present. 



It is not requisite to show here what 

 chemical changes are evolved during the 

 process of germination, or " what use the 

 roots make of air when they get it." That 



