A Touy in the West of Scotlmid 



571 



Trentham school — has taken distinguished 

 positions both at the Edinburgh and Glas- 

 gow shows, and his produce has been at all 

 times of the first degree of excellence. He 

 certainly has occasionally been beaten by 

 " foemen worthy of his steel," but his worst 

 friends dare not refuse him a badge of honour 

 as a grape grower. When one looks first to 

 the houses, and then to the crops, and lastly 

 to the borders, and sums up the gist of their 

 observations thereupon, they are compelled 

 to say that this is grape-growing on the 

 limited system with a vengeance. There are 

 four houses, each measuring 20 feet long by 

 12 feet wide. These houses have only a 

 length of rafter of scarcely 14 feet, and you 

 can touch the apex of the roof with your 

 hand, so low are the houses set. Again, the 

 outside border is only 8 feet wide, so that 

 the vines, if they were confined to the borders 

 intended for their reception, would only have 

 20 feet width of border inside and outside. 

 But on questioning Mr M'Connachie as to 

 whether the roots were walled in within that 

 compass, he categorically answers, " No. 

 They are growing away into the garden bor- 

 ders," and, mayhap, into the quarters of 

 ground portioned out for vegetable culture. 

 Well, either the soil must be very suitable 

 and the drainage without question, else all 

 our great growers who rest their claims to 

 success upon a scientific basis may be cordi- 

 ally ridiculed. Of course, we must assume 

 that the tilth for fruit tree or any kind of 

 cultivation is all that could be desired, else 

 the results would not systematically follow 

 of so auspicious a character. The width 

 of the borders, therefore, may be reckoned a 

 mere nominal power, but the size of the 

 houses and the length of the vine, and the 

 weight and character of the crops are, taken 

 together, astounding realities. In truth they 

 are little better than huge Wardian cases or 

 ground vineries. The vines will be planted 

 about 3 feet apart, a very good distance for 

 those grown under the restricted system, and 

 the crops this year, in the aggregate, are reck- 

 oned by the grower to be larger and better 

 in every way than those of former seasons. 

 With regard to colouring of the fruit, which 



calls up many a testy argument among horti- 

 cultural coteries, Mr M'Connachie expresses 

 a most decided opinion that it is generally 

 better with him this season, and he bluntly 

 asserts that he does not know the cause. " I 

 have treated the plants every year after the 

 same fashion, my calendar of operations has 

 remained unchanged, and you have seen 

 samples of my produce for years past — you 

 can judge for yourself." There can be no 

 doubt that in respect of finish and general 

 excellence the fruit is a move in advance of 

 former seasons, and it must be entirely owing, 

 seeing that no extraneous means were used, 

 to the heat influencing the soil in the one 

 case, and the roots in the other, that the 

 extra points have been gained. The geother- 

 mal state of a border is one of the germane 

 points to be considered by the vine cultiva- 

 tor, and this of course premises a proper 

 physical capacity for absorbing and retaining 

 heat and dispensing with an inordinate supply 

 of water. The plastic sort of oily soil that 

 seems to abound in this quarter was a capital 

 feeding medium in a year of heat and drought ; 

 soil of a lighter capacity prepared to do 

 battle with excessive moisture, if not copiously 

 irrigated, would have been quite impotent to 

 carry through even an average crop well. 



Coming to the more immediate inspection 

 of the houses, we find that the vines have 

 been planted eight years, and that they are 

 all in the height of vigour. The early house 

 had been nearly all cut at the time of our 

 visit, but from the samples left, and from 

 those we saw upon the exhibition table in 

 July, they were admirable indeed. Black 

 Hamburghs, although not up in size of berry 

 and colour to those Mr Meredith usually 

 shews, were very fine, and the clusters large 

 and proportionate. In this house was an 

 instance of a remarkable growth of a one 

 year's cane of Hamburgh. It has grown up to 

 the back wall of the house, run along that, and 

 has returned, measuring in length about 40 

 feet, and the cane proportionately gigantic. 

 One really knows little of the growing power 

 of the vine under proper treatment, nor need 

 any be surprised if under wise cultivation its 

 dimensions could be extended to fill a very 



