366 Coiling System of Vine Culture. 



hood have also failed. Surely, we do not understand Mr. Mearns's 

 system, or he has not fully explained it to us; or he has himself 

 been deceived as to its relative merits. For the purpose of far- 

 ther elucidating the subject, I beg leave to propose the following 

 questions, to which he ought to give a clear and decisive answer : — 

 How many pots had he, when first he published his invention? 

 and what weight of grapes did he have from these pots ? and, 

 upon an average, how many pots were destitute of fruit, for one 

 which had fruit ? Understanding that M]-. Mearns had many 

 hundred pots this season, I also desire the same answers respect- 

 ing them. These plain facts will give more knowledge of the 

 system, so far as success is concerned, than a dozen of laudatory 

 or condemnatory essays. To remove every doubt, it will be 

 necessary also to know if Mr. Mearns is prepared to show that 

 the specimens of his success, to which he refers, were all the 

 produce of rootless shoots; and that none of them, such as the 

 black Constantia vine, were plants that had been taken up with 

 roots, and then coiled; or the produce of rootless shoots that 

 are in the second season of their growth. If in the second 

 season, I desire to know in what respect the coiling system is 

 superior to that of Mr. Pillans, who obtains fruit in the second 

 season from plants raised from buds ; which system, although it 

 appears to me to be impracticable, where time and labour are 

 scarce commodities, is at any rate free from that objection which 

 I have already designated as the principal argument against the 

 utility of the coiling system. The propriety of the above ques- 

 tions must be apparent to every one who, like myself, knows 

 not whether to admit that Mr. Mearns obtains a greater quantity 

 of fruit by such a process than he would do by the ordinary 

 method ; or that he merely gets as much from a vast number of 

 pots, as is sufficient to prevent the result from being viewed as 

 a complete failure, which it unquestionably would in the case of 

 those who only had a limited number of pots; and therefore the 

 sooner the matter is set at rest the better, as I know that the 

 system has not only been a source of trouble to gardeners, but 

 also, in some cases, of unpleasantness between them and their 

 employers. — Hyde Park Corner, London, March 24. 1835. 



Just after the above communication was sent to press, we 

 received a hamper from Mr. Mearns, containing three coiled 

 vines, having abundant roots and vigorous shoots made last 

 year, together with the following letter: — 



" I have forwarded with this three vine shoots, cuttings of last 

 spring. I have many such, full of fine bunches of grapes, at this 

 time. I have also many of such to bring into action ; and I am 

 confident I shall have every eye to show two and three bunches, 

 and as fine shows as can be, many of them muscat of Alex- 

 andrias, and all of the choicest and finest kinds. 



