Notes and Gleanings. 121 



considerable damage, varying from total destruction to all degrees of preserva- 

 tion. Your committee have seen rows of Catawba next to forests completely 

 denuded of fruit, while all rows of the vineyard were more or less preyed 

 upon. 



Individual experience has shown, that, where peaches and grapes are side by 

 side, the birds prefer the peaches to the grapes. A question arises, whether we 

 may not keep the birds from our finer varieties of fruit by planting what will 

 give them abundant food at less expense. We all wish to keep the birds, pro- 

 vided they will not do us too much harm : that they do us service admits of little 

 doubt. For instance, may we not protect our early cherries by planting by their 

 side the mulberry ? 



In all orchards, a large proportion of apples is dropping, many of which are 

 found to be harboring insect eggs. May it not be, in part, that some of our feath- 

 ered friends have been driven away by the drought, and left us to the mercy of 

 our insect enemies ? 



^ iXE-ExTENSiON. — Mr. W. Thomson, in the fifth edition of his "Treatise 

 on Vine-Culture," recently published, has the following remarks on the exten- 

 sion-system, as it is called, which has lately excited so much interest in the 

 garden-newspapers : — 



'•Theoretically, it must at once be admitted that the one-vine or extension 

 system stands on vantage-ground. No one can deny that a tree which is largely 

 developed, with its roots ranging over what I may term an extensive pasture- 

 field, is likely to maintain its health and vigor for a much greater length of time 

 than one that is, by the force of circumstances, restricted in its growth. But 

 there are practical difficulties in the way of the general adoption of the former 

 mode of culture. In the first place, all experience goes to prove that the vine is 

 what may be termed a rambling rooter. If the border is not carefully made, 

 and of such materials as to induce the formation of a numerous progeny of fine, 

 branching, fibry roots, the width of an ordinary vine-border will soon be trav- 

 ersed by them. This takes place even when the restrictive system is adopted ; 

 and it takes place with infinitely greater rapidity under the other. To meet this 

 difiiculty, the roots have been walled in : but this only aggravates the evil ; for, 

 the moment the roots touch the wall, they descend to the bottom of the border, 

 where they are far from the genial influences of heat and air. Another objec- 

 tion brought against this system is, that one vine takes much longer to furnish 

 a house with fruit than a number do ; but this can be met by planting supernu- 

 meraries, to be removed as the permanent one advances. A third objection is, 

 that variety of grapes is desirable in a vinery ; and this cannot be had where 

 only one is grown. Grafting or inarching will meet this objection ; and it is well 

 known that many delicate sorts of vines grow better on other than on their own 

 roots. Thus it appears that the only serious objection to the one-vine system 

 is the difficulty of getting a border of sufficient scope for the roots of a vine of 

 such proportion as will fill a good-sized vinery with fruit-bearing wood ; but, 

 where such can be had, I fully approve of the 'extension-system.'" — Florist 

 and Pomologist. 



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