Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-09-10

PisasaHfOa's Theery
From 8 LoDdon letter of the Phns5al.
This Age.l
1 forgot to mention before, that /
have read your townsman's, General
PleasantOn's, very pleasant and in
~structive lecture on the effects of the
violet ray OF light, or rather color, on
vegetation, with especial reference to
the cultivation of vines. I am. nv
self, an humble follower of the garden
divinitie5, but afar of, and Claiming
to know very little OF the mysteries
over which they preside. Pria3us
has but an Indifferent name. and Yer
tumaus and Pomona were deities
rather of the orchard than the garden.
but in me they have all a devotee.
who, If his knowledge were equal to
his zeal, would long since have OBJ
tanned a high place in their represent.
alive priesthood. Gen. PIeasantou's
lecture was so very suggestive that
one longed to ask him a lew questions
as he went on, more fully to cOrrobo-
rate the theory he had set up, and to
thoroughly comprehend the results
alleged to have been obtained. This
was especially my case, because the
General is reported to have made
statements not quite to be reconciled
to the facts of my own experience,
and the marvellous results he pro.
claims are perhaps less and less won
dertul the more we look into them.
For instance, he states that he OBJ
tanned fruit the second year of his
plantation, which is true enough, but
it rather misieads, as the vines were
then, by his own showing, three wears
old, and the removing them care
fully from pots into the open ground,
trenched and prepared as he states
it was, would give them naturally a
new and vigorous start. Then after
describing the crops thus obtained in
the third year mot the secondly of the
plants, he is reported as saying, that
in old grape growing countries sit
takes i've or six years before q single
bunch of grapes can be obtained"
Against this permit me to record a
fact. / have q vine now bear
ing fruit, in the open air, which is not
yet three years old, as / separated it
myself from the parent tree, in the
autumn of 1868, in the summer Of
which year I took possession of the
place now occupy, and when divided
from the tree its bOle was certainly
not larger than a pipe stem. Again,
the General intimates that il is unu-
sual for vines to bear abuudansly sew
eral years in succession; but he will
ind on further inquiry, is also a mis-
take. The old vines in my garden
bore abudantIy ia 1868, the year we
came in; and in 1869 we made a small
eask OF green grape wine, in order to-
thin of the great superabRadanee of
ruit. Last year we had a good crop,
ripened early, and supplied ali
bur friends, and this year the promise
g greater than ever. It is only fair to
Itate, also, thas nay ground is poor and
InprOductive for almost all Towering,
ind merely herbaceOus plants; even
'oses come to nothing in it, and it has
lad none Of the deep trenching and |
ich preparation which General Pleas
'nton explains that he gave to his.
other fruit trees do pretty well here, j
'ut only the vines seem to defy all
ounteFvaiiing circumstances, and (
i'm easy despite of them.
'hOugh it is not customary for praeti- {
, AACn W t1hC AoLAaGtADA HUH HOCS =
7ho aresupp0sed sometimes to sacri- |
lee truth TO establishment and anti
aesis. Many Of Virgips directions {
4 regard to the management Of vines, {
re preeepts at the present day, and, S
written for Italy, hold good I
England, and probably IN Ameri- 8
!, too. and he teaches that vines do j
OF require great depth Of soil: {
AasSut peI tenst V5tena co1nnsittsre suIco." 8
They are, therefore, easily nourished =
! and less dependent on the richness I
the grOundin which they are plant (
| than on the care and cultivation =
slowed on them afterWard. q