187T.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



81 



being cut down to within one bud of the ground? 

 Is root pruning of old grape vines beneficial ?" 



[We should not prune the roots, but leave 

 them lie along a few inches under the surface, as 

 far as they will go. There is no good from 

 pruning roots directly, but some vines may have 

 diseased roots, and the cutting these away, and 

 the new soil which the operation involves, is 

 often the occasion for a new and advantageous 

 start— Ed. G. M.] 



Rotting of Grapes in a Grapery. — J. H. 

 McH. asks : — " Can the premature rotting of the 

 fruit in a cold grapery be properly attributed to 

 dampness from leakage of rain-water through an 

 imperfect roof? 



[This is one of a class of questions difficult to 

 answer so as to apply to your special case. From 

 that point of view it may or may not. A close, 

 moist atmosphere, brought about by drip, when 

 at the temperature of the dew point, will often 



favor fungoid growths that will end in rot. The 

 Western grape-growers in the open air, know 

 how often dew or fog under some circumstances 

 produces mildews and moulds. But this again 

 depends for its virulence on the vital powers of 

 the subject. A cutting of any soft wooded plant 

 often moulds at the dew point, when a similar 

 shoot on a growing plant escapes, and from this 

 we can see that if the vital powers of a grape 

 vine be already low, the rot producing fungus, in 

 a dewy atmosphere, would be more active than 

 if the plant were in a high condition. Then there 

 are many causes which will produce rot in 

 grapes besides those arising from the state of the 

 atmosphere, so that though the dampness you 

 refer to-viay have caused rot, only an examina- 

 tion of the vines themselves by one accustomed 

 to note these things closely, could say whether 

 it had much to do with your case or not. — Ed. 

 G. M.] 



lORESTRY. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



THE EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS A FAILURE. 



BY E. S. NIXON, CHATTANOOGA, TENN. 



It will be remembered that in the last few 

 years considerable interest has been manifested 

 by a number of people to grow the "Fever Tree " 

 in this country, and that articles innumerable 

 have been written by various parties, in which 

 they thought it would be hardy in the Carolinas, 

 &c. The Department of Agriculture at Wash- 

 ington sent out the seed. Enthusiastic gentle- 

 men sent to California and Australia for it, and 

 the result is that a great many specimens of from 

 ten to twenty feet high, and from two to four 

 inches in diameter, have sprung up in various 

 places in the South. In the month of December, 

 before the coldest weather of the season had set 

 in, I was traveling in Mississippi and Louisiana. 

 I took particular pains to notice the effect of the 

 cold weather on them and found that in every 

 instance, with one exception, they were liilled 

 outright. 



The one referred to was at Port Hudson, La., 



it being planted in the shelter of a high stable. 

 It was a fine specimen, about twenty feet high 

 and four inches in diameter, had braved one 

 Winter with the loss of a few feet of its top. (It 

 will be remembered that last Winter was the 

 mildest for years.) The time I saw it, was two 

 or three days after the cold snap of the 1st and 

 2d of December. I have no idea that it is living 

 now. Judging from my observations I do not 

 think it will prove hardy in anj' part of Louisi- 

 ana, much less the Carolinas. 



[Mr. Berckmans has alreadj'- reported that it 

 will not live in Georgia, much less in the Caro- 

 linas. It is barely possible that a few Australian 

 trees may live in Florida, but every intelligent 

 gardener could tell any newspaper reporter if he 

 wanted to know, that no Australian tree will do 

 in the other Atlantic States. — Ed. G. M.] 



EDITOBIAL NOTES. 



Cork Trees in California. — The cork tree in- 

 terest seems gaining ground in California. We 

 learn from the Santa Barbara Press: — "A tree is 

 now standing on the lot at the corner of Monte- 



