On the Physiology of the Vine. 123 



It will be my object, in this article, to excite more attention to 

 Vegetable Physioloi,^. This science teaches, in the first place, the 

 necessity of providing a neat and comfortable department for the 

 root, whether in the flower bed, the grapery, or the flower pot. 

 Nature's means of neatness are, washing with rain water ; if plants 

 that derive their aliment from the earth, cannot enjoy this act of 

 kindness, they are sickly and unfruitful. If we would enjoy the 

 friendship of plants, whether exotic or indigenous, we must know 

 their history, habitudes and wants, and treat them accordingly. 



The vine being my present subject of remark, will now be con- 

 sidered. The physiology of the vine, as well as other plants, shows 

 that a striking analogy exists, between the vegetable and animal 

 world. Alimentation is performed both at the root of the vine, and 

 above the surface of the ground ; it has its sexual organs, arteries 

 and veins, absorbing and perspiring pores, above, and below the 

 earth ; it has joints, if not muscles ; it labors with its leaves to catch 

 all the direct rays of light, which is one of the most powerful agents 

 in elaborating its fluids ; the tendrils are its hands to support itself; 

 it partakes largely of vegetable instinct ; the leaves have something 

 answering to eyes ; and while they are looking for the light, the ten- 

 drils are feeling for the trellis ; as soon as they touch the trellis wire 

 they commence winding around it ; the fluids imbibed by the roots 

 pass up the main canals to the extremities of the leaves and claspers, 

 and while it remains in the transparent parts, the light performs its 

 office; as it returns to the root it deposits the albumen. The fluids 

 move up by expansion from heat, and capillary attraction. If this 

 delineation of tlie vine be not satisfactory, I am able to produce the 

 high authority of Burgamans and De CandoUe, who have, by many 

 experiments, accounted for the necessity of a rotation of crops, now 

 practised by most of our agriculturalists. (See the American Jour- 

 nal of Science and Art, by James Silliman, M. D., L. L. D., Vol. 

 xxiii. page 138.) 



The radical habits of indigenous vines of this country, differ ma- 

 terially from exotics ; the roots of the former keep near the surface 

 of the earth ; the latter, from necessity, striking deep for moisture, in 

 a dry, hot soil. My soil is cold, adhesive and clayey, without good 

 natural means of draining ; the consequence (o foreign vines is, they 

 are weakly, and the fruit imperfect. However, neither national con- 

 siderations or cost, have been able to overcome my preference to the 

 more splendid appearance and superior delicacy of the foreign grape, 

 in comparison of which, all our domestic kinds, as desserts, are 

 very inferior ; but for wine, I agree with Mr. Kenrick, whose re- 

 marks 1 consider invaluable ; I hope this gentleman will contribute 

 to your pages often. The best situation a vine can have, is upon a 

 gentle slope to the south, the roots running south, and the top north, 

 on an inclined plane or roof, and raised twelve or fourteen inches, 

 by a trellis above the roof. I have an Isabella vine, about four years 



