NOVEMBER. 
257 
little treatise. In what his remedy consists 
it would he unfair to tell, as the brochure may 
be had for a few pence ; but he is so confident 
of its success, and the plan itself is so easily 
carried out, that no one need hesitate to give 
it a trial. “ After having experimented 
several years ” he remarks, “ I have at length 
discovered a method whereby the murrain can 
be prevented,” and the plan described has 
been followed for three years with perfect 
success, its object being to prevent the disease 
from reaching the tubers. The most critical 
time for the crop is when the tuhers are 
approaching maturity. Then if the murrain 
makes its appearance, the remedy must be ap¬ 
plied with promptness, or the crop will be lost. 
Vine Extension. —Mr. W. Thomson, in 
the fifth edition of his treatise on Vine culture, 
recently published, has the following remarks 
on the extension system, as it is called, which 
has lately excited so much interest in the 
garden newspapers:—“ Theoretically, it must 
at once be admitted that the one-vine or ‘ ex¬ 
tension’ system stands on vantage-ground. 
No one can deny that a tree which is largely 
developed, with its roots ranging over what 
I may term an extensive pasture-field, is 
likely to maintain its health and vigour for a 
much greater length of time than one that is 
by the force of circumstances restricted in its 
growth. But there are practical difficulties 
in the way of the general adoption of the 
former mode of culture. In the first place, 
all experience goes to prove that the Vine is 
what may be termed a rambling rooter. If 
the border is not carefully made, and of such 
materials as to induce the formation of a 
numerous progeny of fine branching fibry roots, 
the width of an ordinary Vine border will 
soon be traversed by them. This takes place 
even when the ‘ restrictive system ’ is adopted, 
and it takes place with infinitely greater ra¬ 
pidity under the other. To meet this difficulty 
the roots have been walled in ; but this only 
aggravates the evil, for the moment the roots 
touch the wall, they descend to the bottom of 
the border, where they are far from the genial 
influences of heat and air. Another objection 
brought against this system is, that one Vine 
takes much longer to furnish a house with 
fruit than a number do; but this can be met 
by planting supernumeraries, to be removed 
as the permanent one advances. A third 
objection is, that variety of Grapes is desirable 
in a vinery, and that this cannot be had where 
only one Vine is grown. Grafting or inarch¬ 
ing will meet this objection; and it is well 
known that many delicate sorts of Vines grow 
better on other than on their own roots. 
Thus it appears that the only serious objection 
to the one-vine system is the difficulty of get¬ 
ting a border of sufficient scope for the roots of 
a Vine of such proportion as will fill a good- 
sized vinery with fruit-bearing wood; but 
where such'can be had, I fully approve of the 
‘ extension system.’ ” 
Vine Restriction. —Having quoted above 
what Mr. Thomson says on the question of 
Vine extension, it is but fair to state what he 
has written on the other side. He observes: 
—“I know many old Yines that have been 
cultivated on the ‘ restrictive system ’ and 
that have continued in perfect health for many 
years. At Oakhill, near London, Mr. Dow- 
ding planted a number of vineries forty years 
ago; I became acquainted with them in 
1837, and for twenty subsequent years Mr. 
Davis, who succeeded Mr. Dowding, produced 
the most regular and finest crops of Grapes in 
the kingdom from these same Vines, yet they 
maintained their health, vigour, and fruitful¬ 
ness. They were planted one Vine to each 
rafter, and the system of pruning was the 
‘close-cutting’ one, by which only one eye 
was left at the base of each lateral. There is 
an old Vine at Wrotham Park, which is 
eighty years old, and has all along been 
cultivated on the ‘ restrictive system,’ for it 
only clothes two rafters ; yet I learn from Mr. 
Edlington, who now has charge of it, that it 
is in as full health and vigour as any of the 
younger Yines, and bears equally fine fruit, 
and has a stem 1 foot 7 inches in girth, 
True, the border it grows in has been once 
renewed in the time. In regard to this old 
Yine I make the following extract from a 
letter from Mr. Edlington. ‘ The old Ham¬ 
burgh produces fruit equal to the other and 
younger Vines in the same house. Last year 
they were truly magnificent, surpassing all 
other Grapes on the place.’ I might go on 
multiplying instances to prove that Vines 
neither become unfruitful nor die off in nine 
years, as Mr. Cannell’s did, because they are 
not allowed to extend the area of their foliage 
annually, but I think such unnecessary. The 
fact is, that the Yine is a very docile plant; 
and if its foliage is kept free from the attacks 
of insects, if overcropping is avoided, and the 
wood well ripened,—if the border is made of 
moderately' good materials, and the drainage 
sufficient,—the Yine will continue in health 
and vigour for fifty years, under any of those 
systems of pruning and training that are 
practised by gardeners of intelligence, whether 
that be the ‘ restrictive ’ and close-pruning 
system, or the ‘ extension ’ and long-spur 
system. I therefore close this chapter as I 
began it by saying that there is much truth 
on both sides of the question.” 
.ZEthionema coridifolium.—T his is one 
of the best and sweetest of rock and alpine 
plants, a bed of it in flower looking like a well- 
flowered mass of the charming Androsace 
lanuginosa, and not rising more than 3 inches. 
The flowers are most abundantly produced, 
and the plant quite hardy and perennial. 
Nothing could be more suitable for rock work, 
or the front edge of a choice mixed border. 
It seeds freely, and therefore no one will have 
any difficulty in procurin g it. 
Ventilating Furnace Bars.— A company 
