278 NEW AMERICAN ORCHARDIST. 



the distance of forty or fifty feet from the roots below. In 

 such a favored situation, they will receive the full benefit 

 of the morning sun, and the more effectual advantage of 

 the noonday sun, both by his direct rays and by reflection. 

 The excess of moisture, the nightly dews, and a stagnant 

 atmosphere, the combined causes of mildew, will be dissi- 

 pated by the morning sun, or by the direct influence of 

 southerly winds; or by the indirect influences of northerly 

 winds, in the eddies and counter currents. 



The inclined planes, or roofs, or walls of wooden struc- 

 ture, by being shaded with a vegetable covering, are liable 

 to speedy decay. But this objection does not apply to those 

 with a covering of coal tar, or of slate ; or to the cheap, 

 enduring, and admirable coverings which are now formed 

 of zinc. 



From the experiments of Mr. James Macdonald, of Scot- 

 land, in his statement recorded by Mr. Loudon, it even ap- 

 pears, that, when the vines of the Black Hamburg, and the 

 White Muscat of Alexandria, were trained on trellises at 

 the distance of about ten inches above the sloping roofs 

 of glass, and exposed to the open air, and to the direct rays 

 of the sun, and to the heat caused by the rays of reflection, 

 the fruit ripened equally as well, and as early, as did 

 the fruit of those which were trained beneath its surface. 

 And it is a well-knov/n fact, that at a certain angle of 

 obliquity, the rays of the sun do not pass through common 

 glass at all, or but partially, both the rays of light and of 

 heat being reflected, and by all other systems lost. 



Vines may be trained to very great advantage on poles 

 or espaliers, over the flat or inclined surfaces of barren 

 rocks. And all those useless stones which encumber our 

 fields may be gathered into piles of a pyramidal, an oblong, 

 or of any other form, and the vines planted around and 

 trained over them as near as may be, allowing the fruit 

 sufficient space to hang without touching the stones and 

 rocks. The heat caused by the reflection would power- 

 fully aid in maturing and giving flavor to the fruit. No 

 leaves should be removed which shade and protect the 

 fruit from the sun's burning rays : those leaves beneath, 

 which obstruct the heat reflected from the rocks, may alone 

 be removed. Thus it is that the vine is trained in the 

 Pyrenees, according to Murray, as stated in London's Mag- 

 azine. In the valley of the Arriege, between Tarascon and 

 Foix, the slopes of the hills being productive in grain, the 



