107 



tlie pages of the Gardener s iMonthh/ T have not 

 seen it. He talks ahout soih'nc^ my pen : T think I 

 have, when it has, in this case, been the means of 

 bringing him to the surface. 



Mr. Barnett denies that he says in his Circular 

 that "the sole cause of the paralyzincr of vines, seen 

 all over the country, is in consequence of growing 

 them in "glass pens." If he does not exactly use 

 these words, no amount of quibbling will clear him; 

 but it is that he means. In fact, the idea is such a 

 favorite one with him, that he does not write half a 

 dozen paragraphs before he seems to have forgotten 

 he has denied it, and again asserts it in substance in 

 the following rambling sentence : — "exposing their 

 (the vines) enemies, the insects, and 'glass pens' tite 

 thrip, and the mercenary steam propagator, who 

 prostitutes his calling by spawning his sickly abor- 

 tives upon the land." If he was not such a learned 

 man, one would be apt to question the l^gic of this 

 sentence; but we will pass that, and only wonder 

 that a gentleman who so freely charges another with 

 misrepresentations shouM thus falsify himself 



Mr. Barnett complains that I brand him as igno- 

 rant and presumptuous: I do so again, to his teeth; 

 for he thorouohly shows his ignorance of Vine cul- 

 ture in the above paragraph, in assuming that "in- 

 sects" and "thrips," and sickly abortives are a conse- 

 quence of propagation under glass. That he has had 

 no experience in the matter is evident, or he would 

 know that Grape Vines or any other plants grown 

 under glass are entirely under the control of the ope- 

 rator, and that there is no more valid excuse for a 

 Gardener having " insects," or " thrips," or sickly 

 abortives in his propae-ating house, than there is for 

 having weeds in his Cabbaire patch. This is why I 

 think him "ignorant," — why " presumptuous," — 

 in discussing a subject he knows not of 



It will be seen by the advertisement he is allowed 

 to make in the winding up of his reply to me, that 

 "rootling stock" has sadly fallen since November. 

 In his Circular, then, he quotes them at 5 cents 

 a-piece ; now, he says he is going to "scatter them 

 broadcast over the land at the first dawn of Spring, 

 from Ocean to Ocean, at a penny a-piece." Who 

 can have been hearing "rootling stock," to cause 

 such an unheard of depreciation? 



I have not yet seen the "hand writing on the 

 wall," nor is there any indication of the "Glass- 

 pens" at South Bergen beginning to crumble ; but 

 when it becomes necessar}'' to quote even "root- 

 lings" of any kind at a penny a piece I should think 

 that the end is not far distant. 



If Mr. Barnett deludes himself with the belief 

 that any criticism I have made in relation to his 



"discovery" w^as influenced in the slightest degree 

 either from personal motives, or from fear that his 

 "broadcast" system would hurt my business as a 

 "steam propagator," I am sorry for him. That I 

 could have no personal motive is evident ; for, as I 

 have before stated, T never saw nor heard of him 

 until I saw him in Flushing, six weeks after I wrote 

 the paper which appeared in the December No. — 

 If I believed his plan as economical or practical, I 

 would never have used "steam," as he calls it, for 

 I knew how to produce roots without development 

 of buds, (just as well as Mr. Barnett knows to-day,) 

 long before my beard was grown. I have some 20 

 hamis in my establishment, of all ages from 15 to 40, 

 and I think the dullest fellow in the lot knows that 

 when we wish to produce roots without development 

 of buds, that there is but one way, and one way 

 only ; and that is, that the njedium in which the 

 cutting is placed must be of a higher temperature 

 at its base than its top. This is the simple princi- 

 ple, and the propagator uses his judgment in making 

 the most of the means within his control. 



This may be done in various ways: it may be 

 done by inverting the cutting and covering its base 

 with an inch or so of sand or soil, and subjecting it 

 thus inverted, to the sun's rays covered by sash ; 

 thus giving the bottom part of the cutting a higher 

 temperature than the top, — bottom heat: or a foot 

 of leaves and manure, or other fermenting material 

 is made as in a bot-bed, three or four inches of sand 

 or soil is thrown over if, the cuttings inserted there- 

 in to half their depth. If roots are wished, with 

 buds dormant, 7io glass ?'s* used, but, instead, the 

 cnttincs are covered with boards, in day time, to ex- 

 clude the light and heat. 



A bed of this kind would give, during the month 

 of March, in this latitude, an average temperature, 

 perhaps, of 65°, while the night and day average of 

 the atmosphere, in the shade, would, probably be 

 50°. — the necessary condition to those who would 

 wish to produce "white roots with dormant buds." 

 Our practice in the "glass pens" is nearly similar 

 to this. 



I have no Grape Vines under such treatment this 

 Spring, (Mr. Barnett's rootlings, or something else 

 has scared me off,) but I have nearly a hundred 

 thousand hard wood Rose cuttings, placed in a 

 North-western aspect, where, since February 15th, 

 they have received, by a hot-water tank underneath, 

 a bottom heat varying with the weather, from 45° 

 to 55°, with an atmospheric temperature, when prac- 

 ticable, 10° lower: this we get by heeptng the 

 sashes open night and day when not too windy or 

 cold. The result is certain, — 90 per cent, of the 



