908 FRUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



(2) For protection against weather. 



(3) For facility of making medical applications when the tree shows 

 signs of disease. 



(4) The facility with which the ripening of the fruit may be acceler- 

 ated or forced. 



(5) For ornament. 



Let us glance a moment at these various objects, and how they are 

 accomplished. 



(1) Economy of space. 



The great bulk of the land holdings here are small very many of 

 them very small and as grapes for brandy making was the great, the 

 all-absorbing crop, every rood of available land was concentrated to that 

 to the exclusion of everything else whatever. And after the prosperity 

 of the country was gone, through the death of the vines by the phyl- 

 loxera, the farmer required all his land for food crops to support his 

 family. So in both cases, avarice and poverty, the fruit tree, a luxury, 

 had to take the wall 



Again, in close built quarters in town there was naturally no space 

 for fruit or vines. There is almost always a court yard, however," and 

 along the walls of this the thrifty Frenchman has strung his fruit trees. 

 On the outside he takes up a flag-stone from the pavement of the side- 

 walk, prepares a place, plants a vine, and replaces the stone so as to 

 conform to the new conditions. The vine grows, its stem is supported 

 against the wall to a height, say, of from 10 to 12 feet, when it is trained 

 out laterally between the upper and lower windows on a sort of a horse- 

 rack shaped frame of iron rods. Thus it forms a beautiful ornament to 

 the dead white house front and furnishes many a welcome cluster of 

 juicy grapes to the breakfast table at no cost. 



(2) Protection against the weather. 



This is by no means a rigorous climate, measured by Few York stan- 

 dards, although by reference to a map it may be seen that Cognac is 

 about the latitude of Montreal, Canada. The Gulf stream has so modi- 

 fied the climate, however, that the u winter isotherm," so to speak, 

 would fall about Macon, Ga., Montgomery, Ala., or Columbus, Miss. 

 It was not colder here last winter an average season than in any of 

 the three southern cities. But, remembering the latitude, it will be seen 

 that the shortest winter days are only about eight hours long, and after 

 that the long, cold night. Then the wind blows chill and cold, piercing 

 even to the joints, and on still nights the frost lies like snow on the 

 ground. As to snow itself, other than as a feathery shower, melting 

 almost as soon as it falls', it is rare. So with sleet that sleet which 

 even in the far south thickly glazes all out-doors, from leaf, twig, and 

 stem of tree and plant to roof of house and bed of road here it is al- 

 most unknown. Still, as this climate is ill adapted to such delicate 

 fruits as peaches, apricots, etc., some sort of artificial protection against 

 cold and frost is necessary for theui, and they obtain the best protection 



