§Itt Gardiner's JHoniJli. 



275 



for all, and we sincerely wisli well to tiie enter- 

 prise. 



This note of Mr. Hacker's, however, lias some 

 peculiarities. We are very familiar with Mr, 

 Hacker's st3'le and hand-writing, and neither of 

 them are in the letter before us. The substitution of 

 "Dear Sir" for the usual "Respected Friend," is not 

 either characteristic of Mr. Hacker, — and the sig- 

 nature is not that of Wm. Hacker. Mr. Hacker, 

 we well know, is too honorable a man to sell to 

 another the privilege of using him in such a manner 

 as this; and we are, therefore, compelled to believe 

 that he will thank us for thus calling attention to 

 the unwarrantable use of his narae.l 



Vineyard Culture. — Improved and cheapened 

 by A. Du Breuil. Translated by E. & C. Parker, 

 of Longworth's Wine House, with notes and 

 adaptations to American Culture, by John A. 

 Warder. Cincinnati: E,obert Clark & Co., Pub- 

 lishers. 



M. Du Breuil has a world-wide reputation as a 

 French Horticultural writer of eminence. His great 

 work" Co?xrs eJemenfaire Tlieorique et. pratique cT Ar- 

 horimtlture,^^ has been through five editions ; and 

 hW'' Instruction elcmmtaire surla condui'te desarhore 

 fruitiers,'' first published in 1857, is looked on, in 

 France, as a standard work. He is, however, by 

 no means a philosophic writer. He is rather a la- 

 borious compiler of the practice of others, — some- 

 thing of a Loudon amongst Frenchmen — one whom 

 it is a pleasure to go to when we want to learn what 

 are the prevalent practices and theories, — but an 

 unsafe guide when we would understand the high- 

 est intellectual capacities of the art. 



We often hear tell of persons riding hobbies, and 

 in mounting the present young colt of Du Breuil 

 and trotting hi n out on the American race-course, 

 Dr. Warder has only done so at the risk of breaking 

 his neck. It is not a good looking animal,— the 

 most desperate gambler would not stake much on 

 him, — and most American spectators would wonder 

 how the Doctor undertook to manage such a "crit- 

 ter." But it is evidently a case of malade d' amour. 

 The Doctor is in love with viticulture, and what will 

 not a man dare when the tender passion goads him! 

 There is scarcely a f^tep taken that does not exhibit 

 a restlessness which proves irksome to the rider, — 

 but by a liberal use of " notes," and most skilful 

 horsemanship, the "breaks" have all been correct- 



ed in season, the animal brought to, and we find 

 the fearless rider coming in up to, at least, if not a 

 little ahead of time. If Miss Viticulture does not 

 now place her hand and heart at the Doctor's dis- 

 posal, no novel writer ever did justice to a good 

 story. 



Really, if we were to take this work of De Breuil' s 

 as a guide to the present state of Vegetable Physi- 

 ology and practical Vine-culture in France, we 

 should have vanity enough to believe what Ameri- 

 cans are often charged with : thinking they are a 

 little ahead of all creation ; but we rather think 

 that De Breuil is himself a little behind the enlight- 

 ened Horticulturists of France. Certainly, so near 

 a country where glass houses are used expressly to 

 make a moist atmosphere before the grape can be 

 successfully grown, n o enlightened Frenchman 

 would teach, as this author docs, that a dry atmos- 

 phere is a necessity, and a moist one fatal to the 

 success of grape culture. Americans, too, who 

 have learned the value of proximity to large bodies 

 of water in vineyard culture, would know better 

 than this. 



He knows nothing of hygrometrical conditions, — 

 latitude, conjoined with height above the level of the 

 sea, is the all-in-all of locality with him. He says, ever- 

 green screens favor white frosts and retards ripen- 

 ing of the grapes. Leaves must be pulled off plen- 

 tifully at different times through the season, in or- 

 der to "ripen the wood." Under-draining to take 

 take atvay stagnant moisture is very briefly alluded 

 to, but the writer is, evidently, ignorant of how to 

 keep soils moist in summer ; and he has no better 

 plan to give by which vines may be preserved from 

 droughts than the ploughing and cutting away of 

 surface roots, so as to force out deep ones into the 

 subsoil below ; and yet we find the contradictory 

 advice in another portion of the book that, in cold 

 soils, the ground should not be trenched more than 

 twelve inches. We should think cutting off the 

 surface roots to drive roots down into a cold subsoil, 

 would indicate that the looser such soil the betjter 

 they would go down. 



However, the American reader will not suffer by 

 these heresies', for Dr. Warder is continually cor- 

 recting them, and adding to the text very much of 

 interest, suggested, but not referred to, by the au- 

 thor; and thus, together, it maties a very valuable 

 work ; for there are a great many practical sugges- 

 tions which, with a little Yankeeizing, will prove 

 of great value to our grape growers. 



In another way, also, this work will have an ex- 

 cellent result. It is evident from this book that 

 European grape growing is nearly as risky a busi- 



