THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 145 



years back, are partly inside and partly out ; the front wall being 

 arched to allow free egress for the roots. The inside borders cover 

 the whole floor of each house, and the outside border is now about 

 nine feet in width, which I intend to widen to twelve feet, as the 

 vines exhaust the nourishment in their present feeding-ground, and 

 require further supplies. I have made one addition of three feet, 

 as the border was only sis feet wide outside when first made. For 

 borders that have to be made above the surface, it will be preferable 

 to make them the proper width, and carry the wall high enough 

 to allow of top-dressings as required. In the first place, take out 

 the soil to a depth of about four feet, leaving the bottom perfectly 

 hard and unbroken, with a slope of about a foot in the whole width, 

 and spread about four inches of concrete over it. This is prepared 

 by mixing the sifting3 of gravel with hot slaked lime, and spread 

 out directly it is mixed. This must be allowed to set, and then a 

 foot thickness of broken bricks aud rough stones placed over it for 

 drainage. Before the soil is filled in, the drainage should be covered 

 with sufficient long stable litter, or pieces of turf two or three 

 inches thick, to prevent its getting choked up. 



Vines require a soil thoroughly pervious to water at all times, 

 so that in selecting the loam — which must be the main constituent 

 of the border — choose that which is not likely to run together after 

 the fibrous roots of the grasses, etc., are decayed, for it is a difficult 

 matter to finish off grapes as they should be in a border of close 

 unctuous stuff. We want a border full of healthy fibrous roots, each 

 of which acts as a feeder, and is not likely to receive injury from 

 any cause so quickly as the few large white roots, as thick as goose- 

 quills, which are to be found in fat borders. To be as plain as 

 possible, suppose we are mixing up a dozen loads of compost for the 

 border, let its component parts approximate closely to the following 

 formula : — Eight loads of turfy loam ; two of lime rubbish, in which 

 there is a good proportion of small pieces of brick ; one of manure, 

 and one of crushed bones. If bones cannot be obtained, they can 

 be dispensed with, or a lesser proportion used. The manure I prefer 

 is fresh horse-droppings, mixed with about half its bulk of short 

 half-rotten litter, as it helps to keep the border open aud porous. 

 The materials should be well incorporated together before filling the 

 border, but not chopped up too fine, as the filling in and treading 

 necessary to make it firm will break up the loam sufficiently, after 

 the large sods are cut in two or three pieces. Three feet is a good 

 depth for the border, to begin with, and then a top-dressiDg can be 

 added when necessary. 



It will be as well to allow the border to settle a week or two 

 before planting the vines ; but no time should be lost in buying 

 them, if there is a convenient place to keep them, until the time 

 arrives for planting, as at the nurseries they are now growing in 

 bottom-heat, and it would not be wise to turn them direct from it 

 into the border of cold soil. Good stout canes, about two feet in 

 length, from last year's vines cut down, will be the most suitable to 

 plant, and they should be obtained from the nearest nursery that 

 can be depended upon for getting them true to name, as they are 



VOL. IV. — 1^0. V. 10 



