Notes and Gleanings. 237 



The Winter of 1867 -'68. — The effects of the winter of 1867 -'63 have 

 been of an unusual character, and in some respects most disastrous, throughout 

 the North-west. Upon the opening of spring, thousands of grape-vines started, 

 made a feeble growth, and remain since in a sickly condition ; others died after 

 the swelling of the buds or the growth of a few leaves ; whilst many thousands 

 never made any show of growth at all. Many fruit-trees, particularly yearlings, 

 acted in the same way; whilst many goad-sized trees died later in the summer. 

 The fatality has been of an unusual character, in that varieties considered hardi- 

 est have suffered equally with tenderer kinds. In a letter from Mr. T. M'VVhorter, 

 a pomologist of many years' experience, he says, that, in his locality, " pears on 

 quince, hedges, and roots of standard pears, have been killed ; whilst the blossom- 

 buds of peach-trees have escaped uninjured." 



Some have attributed these results to the unusual severity of the winter ; 

 others to shallow jjlanting; whilst others attribute it, with more show of reason, 

 to the very dry state of the ground when winter set in. Almost every one knows 

 that a very light frost will kill a tree if its roots are exposed to the air ; whilst, 

 ordinarily, a tree that is planted may be frozen solid, root and branch, and come 

 out in the spring all right. 



Now, the fill of 1 33/ was an excessively dry one, so that, when winter set in, 

 the pores of the ground, instead of being largely filled with water, were almost 

 entirely filled with air, leaving the roots in much the same condition as if lying 

 above ground. In this condition, the frozen roots were allowed to thaw out so 

 rapidly as to destroy their vitality, leaving the tops uninjured ; which being the 

 case, growth would commence, and continue a longer or shorter time according 

 as the roots were more or less injured. 



The means of preventing such injury obviously lies in taking any measures 

 that will leave the ground moist upon freezing up, either by thorough cultivation, 

 mulching, or by saturating the ground with water. The latter would be most 

 efficient, but applicable only on a small scale. Fortunately, such dry falls 

 seldom occur. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, III. 



Aerial Roots on Grape-Vines. — We have observed on the old wood of the 

 horizontal arms of a strong Rogers's 15 grape-vine in our garden quite a quan- 

 tity of rootlets more than an inch in length, pushing out near the end of the arm 

 at a point more than a foot from the ground, and growing vigorously. The soil 

 underneath is damp and rich. This may be a common enough phenomenon ; but 

 the above is the first instance we have noticed on our own vines. The rootlets 

 make their appearance chiefly at the junction of the new and old wood. 



The above was written before we had looked over the August number of " The 

 Florist and Pomologist," where five different correspondents give instances of 

 the appearance of aerial roots on vines under glass ; in some cases, in great 

 abundance. That their appearance is evidence of a weak constitution, as some 

 of these writers allege, we cannot believe ; but we consider their production to 

 be rather a token of over-luxuriant growth. 



