502 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  28, 189&. 
Thin  there  comes  the  question  of  food — its  production  and  its 
influence.  Our  present  modes  of  producing  food  are  most  wasteful. 
Our  wilful  waste  of  wall  space  amounts  to  a  national  crime.  It  has  often 
be^n  asserted,  without  contradiction,  that  to  feed  a  fat  bullock  worth 
£25  will  consume  the  produce  of  2  acres  of  good  land  for  three  years. 
The  same  land  devoted  to  fruits,  flowers,  or  vegetables  for  the  same  time 
would  produce  from  £100  to  £150  in  the  same  time,  or  a  return  of  £50 
a  year.  There  is  probably  even  a  greater  disparity  in  value  between  the 
feeding  properties  of  the  vegetable  and  flesh  products.  The  great  want 
of  the  day  is  brain  force  rather  than  mere  strength  or  endurance  of 
muscle.  And  for  the  rapid  generation  of  brain  force  we  need  more  fruit 
as  food,  much  of  which  we  could  grow  around  our  own  homes,  to  the 
richer  clothing  of  our  walls  and  the  better  and  more  varied  supply  of  our 
tables.  Having  thus  filled  our  homes  with  so  much  beauty  each  will  be 
able  to  spare  of  its  abundance  to  the  ennobling  and  enrichment  of  the 
external  world.  We  shall  be  able  to  see  beauty  everywhere,  and  to  find 
it  in  everything.  And  soon  we  shall  learn  anew  the  great  lesson  that 
not  only  is  all  flesh  grass,  but  all  life  and  labour  is  also  grass,  plants, 
fruiis,  flowers,  seeds, roots,  and  leaves.  Flowers  and  fruit  alone  make  home 
possible  or  worth  living  in  or  for.  I  lately  said,  in  an  address  at  the 
opening  of  the  great  flower  show  at  the  Crystal  Palace,  that  the  existence 
of  animal  life  is  only  possible  through  the  mediation  of  plants.  No 
animal  can  satisfy  one  impulse  of  hunger  without  their  help. 
It  is  one  of  the  greatest  mysteries  of  inorganic  chemistry  that  cholo- 
phyll,the  green  colouring  matter  of  plants,  has  the  unique  power  among 
substances  of  breaking  down  minerals  into  food,  or  building  them  up  in 
our  living  tissues.  The  great  rock  or  stone  breaker  of  our  world  is  not 
Thor  with  his  hammer  of  force,  but  green  leaves,  glowing  flowers,  and 
mellow  fruits  in  their  earlier  stages  of  green  babyhood  with  their  con- 
vertive  suavity.  Chlorophyll  is  the  peculiar  possession  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  and  forms  the  chief  and  only  contact — the  vital  link  between 
it  and  all  the  higher  animals  and  their  daily  and  hourly  supplies  of  food. 
Every  grain  of  matter  before  being  eaten  by  man,  or  let  us  say,  every 
movement  of  the  body,  every  stroke  of  work  done  by  muscle  or  brain, 
depends  on  the  contribution  of  a  plant  or  an  animal  that  has  already  i 
consumed  a  plant  and  converted  the  product  into  meat,  cheese,  butter,  ' 
eggs,  or  other  food  and  conveyed  them  to  us  all  the  same,  only  second-  ' 
hand.  Kemove  the  vegetable  kingdom,  or  interrupt  the  ceaseless  flow  of  i 
its  unconscious  benefactions,  and  the  whole  of  the  higher  life  of  the  world  j 
would  stand  still  or  end  in  death. 
Flowers,  fruits,  seeds,  and  roots  are  our  food.  The  flower, 
botanically,  is  the  herald  of  the  fruit — the  fruit,  botanically,  is  the 
cradle  of  the  seed.  The  animal  life  of  the  world  to-day  is  suspended 
on  these.  Withhold  fruit,  withdraw  seeds,  and  the  mighty  pulse  of 
animal  life  ceases  to  beat,  the  intellect  to  plan,  the  brain  to  think.  For 
all  animals  in  the  long  run  live  on  fruits  and  seeds  at  first  or  second 
band.  Three-quarters  of  the  world  of  humanity  to-day  live  upon  Rice. 
Of  the  other  fourth,  three-fourths  live  on  grains,  Wheat,  Barley,  Oats, 
Millet,  Peas  or  Beans.  Rice  and  all  these  are  seeds,  grains,  garnered 
stores  of  starch,  albumen,  food  reck  which  plants  provided  for  and 
bequeathed  for  their  offspring,  and  which  we  arrest  on  Nature’s  great 
highway  of  production  and  consume  ourselves. 
It  is  equally  true  of  the  fruits  and  roots,  leaves,  and  other  foods  of  j 
the  world  as  of  the  seeds  and  the  cereals,  that  they  come  to  us  either  i 
directly  or  indirectly  through  plants.  Our  sugar  and  honey  are  but  the 
sweet  juice  or  nectar  of  our  flowers,  the  Grape,  the  Peach,  the  Melon,  j 
the  Orange,  the  Fig,  the  concentrated  essence  and  strength  of  various  [ 
food  manufactures.  i 
We  owe  our  drink  to  the  same  agencies.  Our  water  is  distilled, 
distributed,  and  kept  sweet  and  clean  through  the  ministration  of  plants 
and  flowers.  Milk  is  but  grass  in  a  state  of  half-way  transition  between 
grass  and  beef.  Our  wines  but  the  juices  of  the  Grape  and  other  fruits 
and  vegetables.  Our  malt  liquors  and  distilled  spirits  the  product  of 
growing  embryos,  sprouting  grains,  or  the  myriad  living  germs  of 
fermentation. 
But  plants  do  more  than  feed  and  adorn  us  and  our  homes.  They 
likewise  build  our  homes  and  furnish  material  for  all  our  trades  and 
manufactures,  as  well  as  heat  and  motive  force  for  the  prosecution  of 
our  industries  and  our  commerce.  Timber  is  but  the  hardened  tissues 
of  plants,  and  iron  rust  is  useless  for  builders  and  manufacturers  until 
fused  into  strength  and  stability  by  the  heat  captured  from  the  sun¬ 
beams  garnered  by  primitive  forests.  The  Flax  plant  is  our  linen, 
the  Cotton  plant  our  calico  in  the  rough  or  in  the  raw  state.  Silk 
is  but  Mulberry  leave*  manipulated  into  new  forms  adapted  for  fresh 
purposes  by  a  creeping  worm.  Our  woollen  drapery  and  broadcloths 
are  but  plant  fibres  after  passing  through  a  sheep  medium,  and  then 
lightly  tossed  on  their  backs  to  keep  them  and  us  warm.  Thus  our 
apparel  is  mostly  a  matter  of  borrowed  plumes  after  all — Fig  leaves. 
Flax  Grass,  spears,  or  coats  of  skin,  the  dried  tissues  of  plants  and 
animals. 
The  rapid  convertibility  of  plants,  flowers,  fruits,  cereals,  and  grasses 
into  other  forces  and  products  is  one  of  the  greatest  wonders  of  the  world. 
To-day  it  is  a  dry  looking  seed,  driven  by  the  wind  across  the  surface  of 
the  soil,  to-morrow  it  is  a  tender  blade  of  grass,  ripening  hay,  or  corn. 
Anon,  it  is  heat-working  force  in  man  or  beast ;  by-and-by  it  will  be  the 
good  bread,  beef,  mutton,  pork,  or  pastry  on  our  table.  Yet  a  little 
longer  it  is  the  dew  on  the  brow,  the  lip,  the  cheek  of  beauty,  the  flash 
or  sound  of  genius  from  the  eye  or  tongue  of  poet,  philosopher,  states¬ 
man,  weighty  thoughts  struggling  for  utterance,  or  deepest  feeling 
striving  for  expression,  for  it  is  literally  true  that  all  flesh  is  grass. 
And  it  grows  through  beat,  hardships,  and  storm  for  us.  Millions  of  ' 
millions  of  living  seeds  have  cold  wet  beds  all  winter  that  we  may  enjoy 
our  toast  and  hot  rolls  for  breakfast. 
As  to  other  missions  and  works  of  plants  they  preserve  the  heat,  and 
maintain  the  purity  of  our  great  and  good  home  the  earth.  Directly 
and  indirectly  they  are  our  clothing,  our  fuel  ;  but  their  sweet  odours 
are  also  the  most  powerful  conservers  of  the  world’s  caloric.  When  we 
sleep  on  clear  nights  we  should  certainly  be  frozen  in  our  beds  were 
it  not  for  the  subtle  veil  of  odours  rich  and  sweet  that  plants  silently 
spread  between  us  and  the  open  heavens,  which  breaks  the  energy  of 
radiation,  and  so  keeps  us  and  our  ministering  angels  warm. 
The  sanitary  work  of  plants  is  equally  vital  to  our  health  and  life. 
We  can  hardly  be  too  often  reminded  of  its  magnitude  and  importance. 
To  them  is  committed  the  work  of  preserving  the  purity  of  earth  and 
air.  The  latter  especially  is  in  imminent  danger  of  being  polluted 
below  living  point.  Life,  commerce,  traffic,  work,  combustion,  respiration, 
aggregation,  decomposition  are  fouling  forces  of  tremendous  energy. 
Oar  health  and  life  depend  on  the  matchless  constitution  of  the  atmo¬ 
sphere  being  maintained  inviolate.  A  ceaseless  run  is  made  in  all  these 
centres  of  life  and  hives  of  industry  for  oxygen.  We  can  neither  live 
nor  work  without  it.  The  following  forces  are  busy  night  and  day  in 
using  up  oxygen,  and  ppuring  streams  of  used-up  and  defiled  carbon  in 
its  place  ;  deficiency  of  oxygen  in  our  air  means  death  to  us  all.  How, 
what  shall  we  rally  to  the  defence  of  our  normal  air? 
We  have  no  choice  of  instruments  ;  we  have  but  one — that  is  all- 
sufficient.  Plants  alone  can  drain  away  the  excess  of  carbon,  and 
renew  it  with  fresh  streams  of  oxygen.  Every  leaf,  stem,  flower  is 
engaged  night  and  day  in  maintaining  this  atmospheric  equilibrium  of 
seventy-nine  parts  nitrogen  and  twenty-one  oxygen  ;  and  they  have  done 
their  work  so  well  that,  notwithstanding  the  recent  discovery  of  argon, 
the  constituent  parts  of  the  air  remains  virtually  the  same.  But  where 
population  crowds,  there  the  plants  and  trees  should  thicken  and  open 
spaces  become  larger  and  more  numerous. 
In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  say  that  plants  are  perhaps  the  only 
true  patron  saints  left  to  us  in  these  hard-working  matter-of-fact 
utilitarian  times.  Their  sweet  perfume  is  the  best  of  all  antidotes  to 
foul  odours  ;  their  life  and  work  is  a  perpetual  warfare  with  matters 
and  elements  that  would  be  death  to  us.  Plants  gladden,  purify,  and 
ennoble  the  highways  and  byways  of  life,  providing  for  rich  and  poor, 
manufacturer  and  mill  hand,  prince  and  peasant  alike,  those  grand 
preservatives  of  health — a  clean  earth,  pure  air,  and  clean  water.  The 
ministrations  of  plants  are  constant.  They  never  leave  or  forsake  us  ; 
they  meet  us  on  the  threshold  of  life  ;  they  abide  with  us  to  the  last. 
None  too  poor  to  enjoy  flowers  and  fruit,  none  so  rich  as  to  be  able  to 
dispense  with  them.  Through  plants  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being.  They  distil  for  us  the  breath  of  our  life,  they  raise  our  water, 
they  are  our  food,  they  make  our  clothing ;  they  are  our  medicine  in 
sickness,  our  solace  in  suffering,  our  strength  in  manhood,  our  sweet 
interpreters  in  love,  our  transfigurators  at  death — for  are  they  not  all 
ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  minister  to  those  who  are  the  heirs  of  a 
common  life  and  heritage  ?  Through  plants  the  worlds  of  matter  and  of 
life  work  are  helpers  of  each  other;  indeed,  the  three  kingdoms — the 
vegetable,  the  mineral,  and  the  animal — are  linked  together  in  bonds 
close  as  those  of  holy  matrimony.  They  clothe  the  invisible  air,  the 
wondrous  light,  heat,  and  chemical  and  elective  forces,  the  living  earth, 
and  inergia  of  the  sun  with  bodies  of  marvellous  symmetry,  beauty, 
sweetness,  and  glory.  Ruskin,  in  his  “  Leaf  Beauty  of  the  Earth  Veil,” 
eloquently  shows  how  paradise  may  be  regained  through  following  the 
lead  and  rendering  the  meaning  into  our  own  lives  of  the  beneficent 
work  of  the  life  and  ministry  of  plants.  ' 
LADY  DOWNE’S  GRAPE  NOT  COLOURING. 
My  experience  with  such  a  Vine  of  Lady  Downe’s  Grape  as  described 
at  page  396  leads  me  to  send  a  few  notes,  not  that  it  may  prove  helpful 
or  of  any  assistance  to  “J.  J.  C.,”  unless  it  be  to  make  him  more 
decided  how  to  proceed.  The  formula  advised  in  the  last  paragraph  of 
the  article  in  question,  to  be  applied,  may  or  may  not  prove  of  benefit. 
I  have  not  tried  it  and  have  no  occasion  to  do  so  now. 
I  experimented  with  such  a  Vine  as  the  one  alluded  to  for  eight 
years,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  I  cut  it  out,  having  come  to  the  con¬ 
clusion  that  it  was  not  worth  further  trouble.  In  fact,  it  was  a  worthless 
variety.  What  appeared  all  the  more  remarkable  why  this  Vine  should 
not  produce  good  Grapes,  although  apparently,  and  it  certainly  was,  in 
the  best  of  health,  was  that  its  next  neighbour,  also  Lady  Downe’s, 
produced  Grapes  of  the  best  quality,  without  fault  or  blemish.  So  the 
fault  could  not  be  laid  to  the  soil.  The  Vine  was  relifted  twice,  fresh 
soil  added,  with  annual  dressings  of  Thomson’s  Vine  manure,  but  all 
to  no  purpose,  for  whilst  the  other  Vines  succeeded,  and  are  still  doing 
well — this  Vine  made  no  improvement  as  regards  its  fruit. 
I  may  mention  that  the  leaves  of  both  the  good  and  supposed  bad 
variety  take  on  the  purplish  autumn  tint.  The  leaves  may  die  off  bright 
yellow  in  some  cases,  but  I  do  not  see  why  this  should  be  given  as  the 
characteristic  colour.  Soils  have  a  great  influence  in  the  colouration  of 
Vine  foliage,  this  being  more  marked  during  some  seasons  than  others.  Oa 
stepping  into  our  late  vinery  recently  I  particularly  observed  the 
greater  part  of  the  foliage  beautifully  mottled  with  purple,  and  yet  the 
bunches  are  of  large  size  with  even  berries  and  excellently  coloured. 
The  soil  might  possibly  be  wanting  in  some  constituents  in  the  borders 
of  your  correspondent,  but  I  do  not  think  the  colour  of  the  foliage  alone 
gives  the  key  note  to  the  defect  referred  to. — A.  Y. 
