1870.] SURFACE CROPPING OF VINE-BORDERS. 21 



THE SURFACE CROPPING OP VINE-BORDERS. 



Having read with much interest the remarks of Mr Simpson on the cropping of 

 fruit-tree borders, and wishing all sensational matter to be put on one side, I 

 venture to ask this question, Can we, as practical men, recommend the whole- 

 sale, or rather universal, cropping of fruit-tree borders ? For myself, I say, No ! 

 though having, like Mr Simpson, to cultivate in an uncongenial climate, where, 

 as he truly observes, early borders are valuable. In my own experience, as 

 well as in that of other gardeners, good crops of vegetables have been taken from 

 borders on which good trees and fruit were likewise produced. Now it is a 

 well-known maxim, held by nearly all cultivators of fruit-trees such as the Apple, 

 Pear, Plum, Cherry, and Peach, that the trees are made more fruitful by root- 

 pruning, judiciously performed; and with such, moderate cropping of the burders 

 is not condemned, bat rather to be commended on the ground of economy. 

 Still, I think he must be a bold man who would propose to root-prune Vines. 

 Yet I consider the digging of the generality of well-made Vine-borders a good 

 spit deep to be only root-pruning under another name. Living as I do in the 

 north of England, in a county well described by the Squire's Gardener as slop- 

 ing to the east, and the subsoil cold clay, where there is any depth of it, and 

 where in the shallow parts we find the magnesian limestone, and have coal- 

 mines and manufactories increasing on every hand, and not by any means improv- 

 ing the climate — I assure you I am very glad, like many others, I have no doubt, 

 to give my Vine-borders the full benefit of the sun's rays during the summer. 

 Here the Vine-borders are always covered with non-conducting material, and a 

 tarpaulin early in October, and I don't feel justified in uncovering them till April 

 or May, so that the period for vegetable culture on the borders would (if I 

 attempted it, but I don't) be but a very short one. There is no doubt but that 

 it has been done, and can be done again, in favoured localities. I have seen 

 good black Hamburg Grapes ripen out of doors in the south of England, 

 where the roots of the Vine had penetrated into a gravel walk, but of course 

 such a result depends mainly on a good season. And so in the case of Grapes 

 grown in a well-cropped border, there must be a good season to aid their de- 

 velopment ; and in the case of a wet summer, like that of 1860, if the Vine- 

 border were cropped with Potatoes and Peas, as recommended by W. S., 

 they would keep every ray of sunshine from the borders, to the great detriment of 

 the Vines. Before I conclude, I should like to ask Mr Simpson a simple ques- 

 tion — this : Suppose he had to make Vine-borders and plant young Vines in a 

 place in which he had just entered on the duties of gardener, and had a reputa- 

 tion to make, would he commend cropping these borders, though we all 

 know new soil is hue for Potatoes ? I ask this question as a practical 

 gardener, because nowadays employers want to know the reason why; and 

 if such an authority as the 'Gardener' can be instanced by them as recom- 

 mending the cropping of Vine-borders, they would naturally enough be led to 

 ask, Why cannot my gardener do the same ] I consider that in the case of many 

 places, were this system of border-cropping carried out, it would be like putting 

 a load on the shoulders of many a weak brother, and increase his difficulties. It 

 is one thing to crop one border of late Hamburgs whore there are plenty of 

 Vineries to fall back on if this fails in consequence : it is quite a different affair 

 where one, two, or even three Vineries represent the whole of a gardener's re- 

 sources, and these generally of mixed varieties, and where even a partial failure 

 of the crop would be a serious affair. In conclusion, I consider it false economy 

 to recommend the universal cropping of fruit-tree borders. R. M. S. 



