64 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



April and May 



For the Western Pomologist. 



Small Fruit-Growing. 



Ten years experience — Propagation of (he grape. 

 Cause of mildew and other diseases of the 

 vine, etc. 



Mar k MrLLER, Bear Sir .-—I will give 

 you my sxperience in small fruit-growing. — 

 The iuterest that will be felt by some to hear 

 from the place furthest west, (east of Cali- 

 fornia,) where fruits have been tested, will 

 make up for any iucompeteucy of the writer, 

 who was laughed at in 1857, when he com- 

 menced his small fruit experiments. My 

 time was devoted exclusively for ten years 

 in testing the adaptability of varieties to our 

 soil and climate and the different modes of 

 propagating plants, before I planted any for 

 profit. 



My experience teaches me that the best 

 possible quality of plants that atn be pro- 

 cured are the cheapest at any thing like a 

 reasonable price, especially of grape vines 

 which have become so cheap that propaga- 

 tors cannot afford to produce the best 

 quality. I see that some writers assert that 

 better plants can be produced from "cut- 

 tings " than from layered vines. If I should 

 make such an assertion it would be because 

 I would have to throw away the wood at 

 pruning time. 



I know that many, perhaps every grape- 

 grower, will differ from me when I say, that 

 I do not believe that mildew will materially 

 affect a perfectly sound grape vine. If I am 

 right, then we ought to propagate the best 

 quality of roots, and I wiU give you the 

 method by which, according to my opinion, 

 the best plants can be propagated. As soon 

 as the buds begin to swell in the spring, or 

 even up to June, I would dig a trench about 

 five or six inches deep and " ring" the cane 

 I wanted to layer ; or as Mr. Foster does, 

 take a piece of wire and twist it tightly 

 around the cane below an eye; the distance 

 below is owing to how far I would want the 

 rof)ts to emit below the eye. The roots will 

 all be found between the ring or wire and 

 the cane produced from the ey e. 



We know that the sap courses up from the 

 roots of the parent vine through the cellular 

 ve.ssels of the wood, and after undergoing a 

 process in accordance with nature's law, by 

 the leaves, it returns to the roots again 

 between the bark and wood. If the flow of 

 sap is checked by ringing below an eye, 

 or the new cane produced from the eye, if 

 there is any fruit on it, the sap will go to the 

 enlargement of the fruit, while the maturity 

 of the grapes will be hastened two or three 

 weeks. If the vine is layered the same 

 effect will be produced on the roots ; it not 

 alone hastens the maturity of the roots in 

 autumn, which is a very important matter 

 and makes the roots larger, but they are far 

 more numerous ; besides the roots all issue 

 within a quarter or two inches of the collar, 

 or any distance that the will of the propaga- 



tor may desire, instead of being scattered 

 along the cane from one to two feet as is the 

 case when the vines are propagated b}' the 

 usual mode of layering. This is certainly 

 convenient in mailing, besides the additional 

 value of the plant over the common ones. 

 The above is not the only advantage that 

 decorticated plants have over those produced 

 by the common method ; but there is an 

 equilbrium between the cane and roots. — 

 What grape-grower has not seen large canes 

 and few small roots scattered along the old 

 layered cane of the parent vine, and vice 

 versa, a very small cane and numerous large 

 roots? The philosophy of this is, that a 

 large cane has more leaves and sap than a 

 small one, there is not as much sap coursing 

 throush tlie cellular tubes of a small layered 

 cane from the parent roots as a large one, 

 the result is, that when the flow of sap is 

 checked it must go into the I'oots of a layered 

 plant which increases the size of the layered 

 plant and hastens the maturity of the wood 

 of the roots. In the layered plant, (by the 

 usual mode) there is always a large portion 

 of the roots that have not time to ripen the 

 wood on account of the frost checking the 

 maturation of the roots so suddenly in the 

 fall ; therefore a large quantity of unripe sap 

 is found in the roots and cane, when the 

 growth is stopped by the autumn frosts. 

 Ihis immature sap will circulate through 

 the wood of the plants as soon as the warm 

 days of the vernal season approach, and 

 consequently must aflect the whole vine 

 injuriously the second year. Here then we 

 have the incipient seeds of defectiveness 

 sown in the plant the first year after it is 

 separated from the mother vine. It may not 

 be visible to the eye, but does not our reason 

 teach us that the embryo grains of disease 

 have been unintentionally, but as carefully 

 planted as the vine itself. The seeds of 

 disease may be sown in the human body 

 many years before the searching eye of a 

 skillful physician can discover it ; it may not 

 even be known to the man in whose body it 

 is implanted, but under unfavorable circum- 

 stances it may become suddenly developed. 

 May it not be so with the hidden disease of 

 the plant ; and when unfavorable conditions 

 appear may not the germs of fungi floating 

 through the air, seize with avidity upon the 

 invisible decomposing wood which may be 

 the genial home of mildew ? But my letter 

 is too long, which must prevent me from 

 pursuing this subject further, although I 

 would gladly do so if space permitted. 



In conclusion then, let me ask, if It is any 

 wonder that mildew affect our vines when 

 we call to mind that millions of plants are 

 yearly distributed throughout the country 

 which are propagated from the unripe wood 

 of the " prunings " which otherwise would 

 go upon the "brush heap?" Would it not 

 be strange if disease did not seize such vines 

 with an unrelenting grasp ? Will not every 

 scienced vigueron admit that the countless 



millions of seeds of the fungi floating in the 

 atmosphere take hold of a weak plant much 

 sooner than an apparently healthy vine? 

 If so, may not the vine which is healthy, 

 so far as the naked eye is concerned have 

 decomposing wood ? Then would not reason 

 teach us that a perfectly healthy plant would 

 have power to resist the attack of mildew ? 

 If the healthiest plant can resist the mildew 

 better than a weak one, is it not better to 

 produce nothing but the best quality? My 

 continuous experiments since 1857, have uo- 

 pressed me with this opinion, and the best 

 possible plants that I have been able to 

 produce was by decerticating the cane root, 

 pruning them in the fall, peehng them in, so 

 as to be calloused in spring. I am aware 

 that it takes the strength away from the 

 parent vine, so much so, that we can- 

 not, (as I have frequently said,) propa- 

 agate oftener than once in three years from 

 the same parent vine. The query comes in. 

 Will it pay ? I answer not at the present 

 price of inferior vines. The difference in 

 the value of inferior and superior plants is so 

 little understood here, on the border of civi- 

 lazatiou, that thebest quality will bring but a 

 trifle, if any thing more than an inferior 

 plant, except among those who have tested 

 the inferior and superior quality of plants. 

 As I believe that perfectly healthy plants 

 will be comparativeh' free from disease, if 

 not altogether, providing that they are kept 

 healthy, I shall, until convinced to the con- 

 trary, discourage the propagation or plant- 

 ing if any but the best quality. 



A. M. BtJKSts, Manhattan, Kan. 



For the Weetern Pomologist. 



HoUings-worth on Grimes' Golden." 



Maek Miller : Dear Sir : — Some ten 

 years ago myself and brother set quite a 

 number of apple trees of numerous varieties; 

 we also top-grafted a number of kinds where 

 we wished the heads to put out, and among 

 these last was " Grimes' Oolden." I should 

 not call it as early a bearer as some other 

 varieties. Perhaps it is a fuU average in 

 this particular. When once in bearing it is 

 equal to the Jonathan in amount of fruit, a 

 more certain bearer, and a better tree — fruit 

 more evenly distrilnited throughout the tree, 

 and very uniform in size and quality. Should 

 be gathered early to keep best — not a long 

 keeper — as good, or better than Jonathan in 

 this particular. Mr. Johnson Meek, who lias 

 had it longer than any liody else in Iowa, 

 (20 years) says it is a much better keeper than 

 Jonathan — lasting well through winter. I 

 have never tried it in what I considered a 

 good place for keeping any variety. I got 

 the scions for topping my trees from Mr. 

 Meek. I believe he obtained his stock from 

 Virginia, where he was acquainted with the 

 original tree, which had not failed to give a 

 crop of fruit more than once in twenty 

 years. Comparing fruits by "good, very 

 good, and best," Dr. Warder pronounced it 



