1877.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



367 



[It must be remembered that the grape-vine 

 does not like to have its roots down in deep cold 

 soil, but in warm ground near the surface. Under 

 these circumstances any good garden ground 

 made rich by stable manure, will grow good 

 grapes. The border is best made outside and the 

 grape-vines taken inside from the out. Most 

 grape borders are made so that water drains into 

 them, instead of draining out. This is not much 

 to say, but it is about all the secret there is in 

 making a successful vine border. — Ed. G. M.] 



Persimmons. — J. H., Moundsville, W. Va., 

 writes : — "I wish some information on sprouting 

 Persimmon seed, and growing the seedlings ; also 

 the best mode of working the#Japanese Persim- 

 mon. Will I graft, or bud, or any other mode ? " 



[Persimmon seed should be kept till Spring. 

 They sprout a few weeks after sowing. We have 

 no personal experience, but have no doubt what- 

 ever that the Japan kinds will either graft or bud 

 freely on them.— Ed. G. M.] 



The Climate and the Foreign Grape. — 

 "Warning," Cincinnati, 0., writes : — "Is it not 

 time that some word of warning is given against 

 the attempts being made to introduce seedling 

 grapes that are hybrids of Vitis vinifera ? We 

 know by experience, dear bought, years ago, at 

 least in these parts, that the foreign grape is ut- 

 terly unsuited to the American climate, and any 

 infusion of that blood to our own native kinds 

 can 0nly lead to degeneration, and not to im- 

 provement, however sweet the flesh of the hy- 

 brids may be." 



[Our correspondents remarks deserve great 

 consideration. Yet he is both right and wrong. 

 He is right when he says that experiments with 

 the foreign grape have mostly been failures — 



wrong when he says, as a matter of ascertained 

 fact, that tlie failure was wholly due to climate, for 

 it is well-known that in cases of experiment with 

 foreign grapes, they generally did well for a few 

 years. Indeed, we now know that it was not al- 

 ways the climate, but sometimes the insect called 

 Phylloxera, which brought about the failure, 

 and that many undoubted native kinds failed 

 as badly as the foreign ones. So clearly 

 is this now made to intelligent men, that 

 they sit and listen with wonderment to dis- 

 cussions about " varieties," adapted to various 

 localities in conventions. All that is neces- 

 sary to one who has kept pace with intelligence, 

 is a look at the roots. If these are strong, active 

 in making fibres, and quick to make new ones, 

 when they have been injured by Phylloxera 

 or anything else, it makes little difference to him 

 whether it has foreign " blood " or not. He will 

 know at once whether it is " adapted to the cli- 

 mate," and act accordingly. — Ed. G. M.] 



Discussion on Pear Blight. — M., Bucks Co., 

 Pa., writes : — " Will the discussion in regard to 

 Apple and Pear blight, which took place on the 

 excursion down the Chesapeake, appear in an 

 early number of the Gardener's Monthly? I am 

 asked very frequently in regard thereto, and I 

 should be pleased to see that discussion in print. 

 It is a subject that is of great interest to the fruit- 

 growers of this section." 



[We had no idea of publishing the discussion 

 because it brought out nothing new. The cause 

 of the fire blight in the Pear is well understood 

 by all readers of the magazine who have followed 

 the mycologists through our pages. If we can 

 now come on a good preventative of this fungoid 

 disease, we should be glad to find a place for it. 

 —Ed. G. M.] 



,ORESTRY. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Cryptomeria japonica grows larger in Japan 

 than any other forest tree ; 35 feet in circumfer- 

 ence is not unusual. 



Pine Tree Oil. — Between Bordeaux and Bay- 

 onne there is a large stretch of sandy desert. 



whereon there is little vegetation save here and 

 there patches of Pine trees. Ffom these trees, 

 says the Garden, there runs a resinous matter 

 which is collected and sold by the inhabitants of 

 the region. The substance has recently been 

 studied by M. Guillemare, and he has now an- 

 nounced to the French Academy of Science that' 

 he has produced three kinds of oil from the ma- 



