226 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE, 



low, with abundance of air; the vines broke slowly and 

 strong, but showed scarcely any fruit, generally throwing off 

 a tendril instead of a bunch ; the other houses were also in- 

 different, both in flavor and color, being watery, and insipid 

 to the taste. At that time, I had not made the above exam- 

 ination. Afterwards, I added one third of old mortar and 

 brick rubbish, and, having well mingled the whole, I replanted 

 the vines carefully ; the result was, that, the following season, 

 the wood became firmer and shorted-jointed, and the crop im- 

 proved, both in weight, flavor, and color. E. F. G."* 



* E. F. G. states impossibilities ; and, to practical men, renders thereby his com- 

 munication worthless, unless ihcy can be accomited for as oversights. i^That the edi- 

 tor of the Chronicle should have thought the artick of value, must have been, 

 because it favored his opinion relative to the use of carrion 3 and he could not have 

 given it a careful perusal ; if he did, he overlooked the result of such reasoning. 

 You might, with as much propriety, say, that bone-dust, guano, poudrette, or any 

 chemical combination, was bad and unsuitable as manure for the vine, because it 

 would not flourish if planted in them, simply, or with only a small proportion of soil. 

 According to E. F. G., "here was a mass of thirty fat hogs, and other bodies be- 

 sides, (how many, he does not say,) three or four wagon-loads of large bones, and 

 an immense quantity of woolen rags saturated loith oil." (This last article of oil, 

 unless used in the compost heap, and entirely' decomposed before it is used, is, per- 

 haps, the worst poison that can be applied to the roots of fruit trees, of all kinds.) 

 Upon digging into it, according to his account, it was a mass of putrid matter, which 

 would as surely destroy all life in the root of the vine which came witliin its reach, 

 as fire would destroy life in the animal, if surrounded thereby. In fact, it was a 

 compost heap, piled above the roots of the vines. (The vines had been planted six 

 years ; this heap of matter could not have been put there at that time ; for, even in 

 England, two years is sufficient for the mass to have been changed.) Wliat prac- 

 tical gardener would think of planting his vines in such materials? Compare this 

 mass of putrid matter with the soil, as recommended by Mr. Roberts 5 how very 

 imlike they are ! 



" Throughout the whole of the border, he found not one single fibre, and the large 

 roots were cankered, and some of them eaten through." He does not state, by 

 what the roots were eaten ; whether by worms, produced in this putrefaction, or by the 

 canker. This is just the condition the roots might be supposed to be in, that is, dead. 

 It is impossible to cause a root of the vine to live in such matter, during decomposi- 

 tion. Thus far, tliere is reason in what E. F. G. says, as to the condition of the 

 border, and the state of the roots of the vines growing therein- But, w hen he states, 

 "that the foliage was very large, but sickly, the wood very long-jointed and 

 watery," we cannot agree with him ; it cannot be ; E. F. G. must have overlooked 

 some important fact ; the roots of the vine could not, without spongioles and root- 

 lets innumerable, produce this long-jointed wood, with large leaves. In forcing, 

 "the vines broke slowly, but strong, and showed scarcely any frait." Here, also, 

 is a strange statement 5 the vines, to do this, must liave received abundant nourish- 



