THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. " 233 



been the cause ; neither do I think that, out of six hun- 

 dred vines "which I have planted under glass, this singular 

 disease ever seriously affected one vine. I have had a few 

 injured at the end of the cane, hut it has always occurred on 

 some extremely hot and bright day, where the very place on 

 the skin of the shoot, Avhich had been burned by a defect in 

 the glass, could be seen. A new shoot from the terminal 

 eye has invariably pushed and grown rapidly, showing that 

 the cause was external, and not with the roots or sap. In 

 the bright sunshine, I do not see any good reason Avhy the 

 glass might not burn the shoots in England as well as in the 

 United States ; that it does burn here, there is no doubt ; 

 and Mr. Hovey, in speaking of the exposure for the grapery, 

 alludes to the necessity of having some protection from the 

 scorching effects of the sun in summer, and mentions the 

 whiting the glass for this purpose. It is not uncommon to 

 see the young laterals, and even the main stalk of the bunch 

 of fi'uit I have sometimes found burned, on the side next the 

 glass, and so injured that I have deemed it best to cut it 

 away. That the gas, escaping from fermenting manure and 

 leaves, will destroy the fohage, I have stated in my remarks 

 on Mr. Roberts's plan. 



The editor of the Chronicle states, that it is the " gaseous 

 results of decomposition, whose odors render vine borders, 

 constructed on Mr. Roberts's plan, so intolerably disgusting." 

 (Article extracted as from the Chronicle, 1847, page 851.) 



This state of the border, when prepared either by Mr. 

 Roberts's plan, or my own, never can exist in fact. I never 

 have discovered the least odor from any border after it was 

 finished. All manures in their crude state are offensive, 

 and, in collecting them for the border, or the compost heap, 

 the person so employed must be subject to the gases, be 

 they more or less disagreeable. I contend that animal mat- 

 ter, when fresh, is less so than any other manure. There is 

 an erroneous opinion formed of the condition of the border, 

 founded upon the improper use of the word carrion (before 

 30 



