228 



THE DIANA GRAPE. 



kinds of trees. These knots or excrescences 

 are undoubtedly accumulations of cambium, 

 which become transformed into wood, as in 

 ordinary, circumstances. Had it been imper- 

 fectly elaborated sap, it would have been 

 thrown off by extravasation or other means, 

 from the tree. These knotty excrescences 

 possess all the powers and properties of per- 

 fect buds and branches, and in Italy they are 

 frequently found upon the olive trees, are em- 

 ployed for the purposes of propagation, and it 

 appears, when cut from the tree, with a por- 

 tion of the bark adhering to them, they very 

 readily grow into young olive trees. 



Although the theory of Decandolle, re- 

 garding the excretory power of plants, has 

 been rejected by many eminent physiologists, 

 there are, nevertheless, some strong facts 

 springing out of this inquiry, that lead to the 

 belief that this power is possessed by them 

 in a very extraordinary degree. I would not 

 assert that plants do not possess the power of 

 discrimination, to a certain extent, although 

 we know that plants absorb solutions which 

 speedily cause their death, and which the roots 

 appear to have no power of rejecting, from 

 which many physiologists conclude that plants 

 possess no definite power of selection. Their 

 absorptive power may, however, be antago- 

 nized by their excretory power, for it is well 



known that tney have the power of selecting 

 from their juices as it passes through their 

 vascular system, such portions as are likely to 

 nourish them, and of rejecting from their roots 

 and otherwise, %i:ihen the sap descends, such 

 portions as are unfit to contribute to their sup- 

 port, or would be injurious to them if not re- 

 jected from their system. 



My investigations, therefore, drive me irre- 

 sistibly to the conclusion, that the accumula- 

 tions of gum on Peach and other stone-fruit 

 trees, is superfluous matter, rejected by the 

 tree, and which is necessary to its welfare to 

 do so, and instead of being injurious, is bene- 

 ficial. It is never found except where there 

 is a puncture or laceration of the bark, hence 

 it takes the first medium of egress ; when such 

 channels of outlet do not exist, it is no doubt 

 ejected by the roots. 



If I am correct in my premises, gumming 

 is no injury to the tree, but the contusions 

 from which it flows may be by the ingress of 

 air, and harboring the larvae of insects. When 

 the gum, therefore, is scraped off, the wound 

 should be plastered over with some plastic 

 substance. I am making further investiga- 

 tions on this subject, and will give you a fur- 

 ther account of them when they are completed. 

 Respectfully yours. A Subscriber. 



Boston, Oct , 1S50. 



A NOTE ON THE DIANA aHAPE. 



BY N. LONGWORTH, CINCINNATI, OHIO. 



Mr. Downing — Hearing the Diana grape 

 much lauded at the East, I obtained grafts 

 last spring, and have them growing. Being a 

 seedling from the Catawba, I wanted faith in 

 the reports of its superiorty to the parent ; 

 for all our seedlings of the Catawba have fallen 

 back nearer to its old grandfjither, the com- 

 mon Fox grape. Among our seedlings, we 

 have two white ones. I obtained by Express 



yesterday, from Boston, some bunches of the 

 Diana grape, and sent for our fruit committee, 

 and some of our best horticulturists. I laid be- 

 fore them the Diana grape, and a bunch of the 

 Catawba, not fully ripened, and selected on 

 that account. I requested the gentlemen to 

 taste the two parcels, and decide if both were 

 the same crape — if not, which M'as the better 

 grape. I kept them unadvised of the name and 



