66 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
March, 
nor lower, we have the spot where cuttings of plants form callosities, and finally 
emit roots. It is here also that seeds begin their work, and at this point 
most plants form their callus, and dip their root into the earth and raise their 
cotyledons into the air, as accurately as the mariner’s compass holds to the Pole. 
The Vine is but a trailing shrub, and does little in the way of making itself into a tree, 
but any one seeing its fleece of leaves with all their hairs and points, would conclude 
that if there were any electricity about, such a plant would have its share. Now 
when the leaves have been reduced in number by pruning in winter, and stopping 
in summer, they have got to be six times the size of the normal leaf, and the size 
and quality of the fruit have been generally increased, like those of the leaf ; but 
this has only been attained after a careful study of the wants of the Vine, and 
strict attention to having those wants supplied. Yet after all the experiences of 
the ages gone by, and the searching inquiries of our own time into the laws that 
govern the growing of prize grapes, it must be confessed that we often see the 
splendid effect without being able to seize upon the cause. I should reckon an 
amateur mad who should prune his Vines as Crawshay did his, but that gentleman 
surpassed his contemporaries in grape-growing. Choice Vines, inarched upon 
free-growing stocks, have been tried with good effect; and if we might argue 
from the Eose when worked, and grown upon its own roots, there should be a 
grand hitch here in the right direction ; but an exhibitor comes forward and puts 
to silence all such notions by showing the finest grapes ever seen, grown on Vines 
raised from eyes, and consequently on their own roots. 
The distance of the foliage from the glass is important. I have found the 
practice of the best growers to be to allow a space of 16 in. from the glass to the 
Vine when tied to the trellis; but a Vine of Stillwell’s Sweetwater would not set 
its fruit at that distance, though it sets freely when dropped half a yard further 
down. These items puzzle young gardeners and amateurs, and when even old 
men are asked why things are so, it is not easy to render a reason.— Alex. 
Forsyth, Salford. _ 
THE MACAETNEY EOSE FOE WALLS, Etc. 
HERE will be but few, if any, gardeners, excepting they be very juvenile, who 
have not some distinct recollection of the Macartney Eose as having been 
met with in some old-fashioned garden, where it was cherished and valued 
greatly, ere the great advance now apparent in the quality and quantity of 
Roses was made. Their knowledge of it may, however, be associated in some 
instances with short, dense, twiggy bushes, giving them the idea that such was 
its habit, and that as such it is now unsuited for culture, in comparison with 
others of greater perfection as regards the blossoms, and greater profusion as 
regards growth, beautiful and much admired as were its nearly evergreen leaves. 
Having lately put its capacity of growth to the test, I am prepared to say that, 
as regards vigorous growth it falls behind very few. Three years ago it was chosen 
as an old acquaintance unforgotten, to adorn an east wall, and in connection with 
