MAY. 



141 



bright orange, and close stiff habit, is also a good bedding plant ; and 

 the Scarlet Ivy-leaf Geranium is also a very serviceable plant for 

 ba&kets, rockwork, or beds ; but to have it in perfection the plants should 

 be struck the previous summer. We purpose paying attention this 

 season to various novelties, and testing their adaptability to bedding 

 purposes, and shall report upon them at the close of the season. 



HINTS ON GRAPE GROWING.— No. IX. 

 Bt a Gardener in the Country. 



Although the roots of the Vine, when the top is in a dormant state, 

 v^^ill bear the ordinary winters of our climate without protection from 

 frost, yet too much wet weather during the same period is unfavourable 

 for them, more especially with newly planted Vines, at which time the 

 roots, like the wood and leaves, are thick, fleshy, and not so plentifully 

 furnished with fibrous roots as they will be hereafter ; consequently, 

 an excess of wet more easily affects them. In many instances which 

 have come under my notice, all the younger and more active portions 

 of the roots have become completely rotten, through new made borders 

 having been exposed to the rains of winter, which have the effect hke- 

 wise of reducing the temperature of the soil, and thus adding to the 

 evil ; for as the temperature of the border (or in fact any body of 

 earth exposed to atmospheric influences), will be materially affected by 

 its dryness, or the reverse, it follows, that to allow the rains and snows 

 of winter to penetrate it, would lower its heat, and assist in endangering 

 the healthy action of the roots in several ways. It is therefore good 

 policy to prevent any large quantity of rain from gaining admittance 

 to Vinery borders between November and Blarch ; for the rest of the 

 year no harm can happen to the Vines by the borders being fully ex- 

 posed — provided, in constructing them, the directions given in my pre- 

 vious papers have been carried out. 



Various contrivances will suggest themselves to the mind of the 

 amateur for effecting this ; as parties living in different locahties may 

 be within reach of different materials, which will serve the purpose. 

 Thatching them with straw, stubble, or Fern, answers admirably, as 

 does a covering of dry leaves plastered over with rough mortar, to 

 throw off rain, and keep the leaves from blowing about ; or the mortar 

 may be spread on alone, first covering the surface of the border with 

 some short litter, or half rotten leaves, tan, &c. The object is easily 

 effected, and the preservation of the border from cold and wet by such 

 means is amply repaid the following season, by the uninterrupted pro- 

 gress which the Vines will make through having the spongioles of their 

 roots secured in a condition for supplying the wants of the Vine when 

 growth commences. This covering, whatever it may be, should be removed 

 towards the middle or end of March, by which time the sun begins to 

 have power sufficient to maintain the heat of the border, at a point 

 which will promote the natural root action as spring advances. In these 



