REMARKS ON COILING VINES. 
405 
so far as known to me, no allusion was made to the system as a means 
of preparing plants for fruiting in the second season, previously to the 
month of May of the current year, and that too merely incidentally. 
Certain I am that I never heard of such a circumstance when I wrote 
my views respecting the system ; and at the present moment I am not 
aware of any means having been resorted to by Mr. Mearns to inform 
the public that, although grapes may be obtained the first season, the 
success would neither be so great nor so general as he at one time 
fondty anticipated. Instead of such a candid statement, which would 
at once give satisfaction to all parties, Mr. Mearns seems determined 
upon maintaining, through thick and thin , all and every part of his 
system, careless whether his present and former statements should 
harmonise, or be somewhat in discordance with each other, and regard¬ 
less of a question which is now being put, and answered too—“ How 
does it come to pass that, if Mr. Mearns is so successful the first season, 
he should expose himself to the labour and loss of time requisite for 
the rearing of plants that will not fruit previous to the second season, 
especially when he tells us that his established vines produce abundance 
of wood suitable for his purpose ? ” 
Having commenced this inquiry in the Gardener’s Magazine, I am 
so convinced of the propriety of finishing it there, that I should not 
have taken notice of your remarks, and far less have directed your 
attention to the statements of Mr. Mearns, if I had not perceived that 
he had taken the trouble to direct your attention, not to your miscon¬ 
ceptions, but to certain facts stated in the Gardener s Magazine , 
corroborative of his success, and consequently a sufficient answer to my 
letter of inquiry. My opinion of these facts will appear in its proper 
place. Meanwhile, I shall content myself with joining Mr. Mearns in 
recommending these facts to your careful perusal, hoping at the same 
time that, as an act of justice, you will read with equal care the letters 
to which I have already referred you, as also that paper of mine which 
these facts are designed to answer; and then, but not till then, will 
you be fully capable of pronouncing your opinion whether or not these 
facts do sufficiently corroborate the statements contained in the former, 
or prove a suitable refutation of the arguments, and a satisfactory 
answer to the simple questions contained in the latter.—I remain, &c.. 
Yours very sincerely, 
Robert Fish. 
Hyde- Parle Corner, October 12, 1335. 
