168 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE G.ARDENER. 



[ Febraary 22, 1872. 



pots in the affected house, training the young Vines between 

 the branches of those growing in the border. I likewise in- 

 arched a number of the diseased Vines on Concord stocks 

 grown in 8-inch pots for that purpose. About the 1st of 

 November the Vines on their own roots, as well as those on the 

 Concord stocks, were placed on the floor of the vinery, and 

 covered with a sufficient thickness of straw to effectually ex- 

 clude the frost ; the result was — I protected the Vine louse, 

 and enabled the pest to prey upon my Vine roots during the 

 winter. I disposed of my residence, and in March made pre- 

 parations to pack uj) my valuable collection of pot-grown Vines 

 and transport them to my new home. To my surprise and 

 disgust, I found the roots of my Vines dead to the coUar in 

 almost every case where they were unworked. The worked 

 Vines, on the contrary, were found to be healthy. Again fun- 

 goid disease came to my assistance, although the Vines had 

 been grow-n in a compost consisting of decayed sods and half- 

 inch bones. 



On the 10th of last May I finished a span-roofed vinery 

 .5.5 feet long, and planted it with the inarched Vines raised in 

 1870, and with a few Vines upon their own roots. The border 

 was made of green turf cut 3 inches thick, to which were added 

 half a ton of crushed bones and 200 lbs. of superphosphate of 

 lime. Although the border was made of fresh sods, and the 

 Vines were planted on the 10th of May, they made a satisfactory 

 growth. The Vines on their own roots, except Golden 

 Champion, made a growth of 13 to 20 feet; but most of the 

 worked Vines crossed to the opposite side of the house, making 

 a growth of 28 feet, the canes being large, firm, close-jointed, 

 and ripened to the tip. When the canes reached the opposite 

 side of the house they were stopped, or else I might have re- 

 corded the production of longer canes. Among some of the 

 varieties maldng the strongest and longest growth on the 

 Concord I may mention Golden Champion, Black Monukka, 

 White Froutignan, Black Muscat of Alexandiia, Gros Cohnan, 

 Black Hamburgh, and Bowood Muscat. 



Having noticed in the Journal that the Golden Champion 

 failed in some places to make a satisfactory growth, I resolved 

 upon trying an experiment with this variety. I planted a strong 

 Vine of this variety upon its own roots, and two on Concord 

 stocks grown in 8-inch pots. The Vine on its own roots made 

 a growth of 5 feet, wood spongy and imperfectly ripened. 

 One Vine on Concord produced a stout cane 25 feet long, close- 

 jointed, soUd, and ripened to the tip. The other Vine made 

 two canes, one 23 feet long, and the other 28 feet long ; the 

 latter 3J inches in circumference, firm, close-jointed, and per- 

 fectly ripened to the last joint. 



I may again direct the attention of your readers to the ad- 

 vantages of using a few of the American C-rrapes as stocks. 

 They will grow luxuriantly in a soil where the European varie- 

 ties would languish and die. They are almost exempt from 

 the ravages of the Vine louse, and if attacked seem to sustain 

 but little if any injury. They are injured to the same extent 

 as foreign varieties by defective drainage. To insiu-e a vigorous 

 growth a limited extent of border will supply their wants. In 

 this country the Concord is known as " the Grape for the 

 Million," and it can be found growing with the utmost vigour 

 in almost every portion of the United States, in all kinds of 

 soil, and in every situation — in fact, it flourishes and annually 

 produces large crops of fruit where other varieties would 

 languish and die. 



After having inarched a large number of varieties upon the 

 Concord I have found but three varieties that seem to dislike 

 the connection — the Wantage, SjTian,and Nice. As it is more 

 than probable that you wiU be troubled with the Grape louse 

 in England, I sincerely hope that some of your leading Grape- 

 growers will test the value of the Concord as a stock. If dis- 

 posed to experiment with it, I would only be too happy to for- 

 ward cuttings of the Concord to any of your leading Grape- 

 growers ; and as you have my name and address, you are at 

 liberty to communicate the same to those desirous of experi- 

 menting. 



The researches of Mr. Eiley during the summer of 1871 in 

 France with regard to the introduction of the plant louse, 

 render it almost conclusive that its introduction was the re- 

 sult of importing American Vines into France. Hence, 1 would 

 advise your Grape-growers to be careful, and if they reqnu-e 

 Vines from the United States to be satisfied to receive cut- 

 tings, and allow rooted Vines to remain on this side of the 

 Atlantic. 



Having discovered my enemy, I shall make him a study, and 

 at some future time I may have something more to say about 



the Vine louse, and my hobby the Concord Grape as a stock.- 

 AlFkesco, Neic Jersey/, U.S. 



CHEMISTRY OP MANUEE. 

 Though agreeing with " J. S. K." in the main, yet I cannot 

 accept all the dicta of agricultural chemists as to manures. I 

 know many of your readers will tliink I have a maggot in my 

 brain on this subject, and I am only now m a measure repeat- 

 ing what I have already said. There is a degree of simplicity 

 in valuing manures altogether by the nitrogen they contain,, 

 that seems to recommend itself on this score. Plants cannot 

 absorb nitrogen from the air — plants require nitrogen for their 

 growth — ammonia contains nitrogen — therefore nitrogenous 

 manures are valuable in proportion to the ammonia or nitrogen 

 they contain. There is something delightfully simple and easy 

 in this mode of argument ; but I must say, the more I see, the- 

 more I hear, and the more I read on the subject, the less con- 

 vinced I am it is true. Granted (which is not yet proved, and 

 difficult to prove), that plants cannot assimilate nitrogen from 

 the air — but stiU gi'anted, for the sake of argument, that they 

 cannot — is it to be supposed that when growing plants on an 

 average contain only about 2 per cent, of nitrogen and 50 per 

 cent, of carbon, farmyard manure, for instance, is to be valued 

 merely for the nitrogen when it is rich in carbon in a form 

 easily assimilated, and rich, too, in all the mineral mgre- 

 dients in a soluble, or rather in a minutely subdivided form, 

 as they have already been absorbed and assimilated by other 

 plants ? 



Is it not true, also, that all nitrogenous manures are easily 

 decomposed ? and may we not argue that just as food which 

 is most easily digested forms the most useful and necessary 

 food for man, so those manures which are most easily decom- 

 posed form the most necessai-y food for plants ? Ammonia is 

 an alkali, a powerful solvent for all forms of carbon. Carbon, 

 we are told, can be taken in by the leaves ; but leaves give off 

 carbonic acid as well as absorb it, and it is veiy questionable 

 whether they do not give off quite as much as they assimilate- 

 for the plant ; and it is more than probable that the greatest 

 bulk of carbon — more than half the weight on an average of 

 all growing crops — is taken in through their roots. Hydi'ogen,. 

 too, is found in growing plants in a gi'eater proportion than 

 nitrogen, not merely as H — that is, in combination with 

 oxygen as water, but in addition. Persons are apt to say this 

 hydrogen is easily obtained from water by decomposition ; but 

 is water easily decomposed ? By no means. It is this valuable 

 property of water which makes it so useful {is a solvent, tliat 

 nearly all chemical salts, spirits, sugars, &e., ai'C soluble in 

 water without abstracting either the oxygen or hydrogen in it. 

 Potassium and sodium are nearly the only known substances 

 which have so great an affinity for oxygen as to decompose 

 water, which they do by hberating hydrogen. We can also 

 decompose water by means of powerful galvanic batteries ; but 

 as a general rule, it may be said that when once hydrogen and 

 oxygen have entered into combination to form water there is 

 no more stable element. I cannot see, then, that the hydrogen 

 which exists in plants in combination w-ith other chemical 

 constituents besides water, can be easily obtained by the de- 

 composition of water ; and 1 believe that one of the important 

 properties of ammonia, which is readily decomposed, is to give 

 a plant hydrogen as weU as nitrogen. 



Again, if we make nitrogen the basis on which to reckon the 

 value of manure, what becomes of carbonate of lime, super- 

 phosphates, common salt (chloride of sodium), potash, a most 

 powerful manure, and other chemical manures which contain 

 no nitrogen at all? I cannot agree, then, with "J. S. K." 

 that " soot, malt sweepings, nitrate of soda, sulphate of am- 

 monia, guano, all simply depend, or nearly so, on some form 

 of nitrogen for their efficacy. For instance, soot contains 

 carbon in a highly divided, highly soluble form, besides other- 

 important salts. JIalt sweepings contain no great amoxmt of 

 nitrogen but a great amount of easily decomposed carbon. I 

 need not, however, dwell upon this. 



Iron is certainly an important ingredient in the colouring^ 

 matter of plants, and, though it is very difficult to prove, I 

 cannot help believing that there are certain substances which 

 are taken up by the plants in their sap which may be valuable 

 in helping the plants to assimilate other food, just as many 

 medicines are found to be useful in the human system which 

 are not assimilated into the system, or, at all events, arc not 

 necessary to the human system. We know that plants can ■ 

 take soluble substances not necessary to their existence into 



