ON GRAPE VINE BORDERS, 



BY DR. STEVE.\S ; NEW- YORK. 



It is well known that plants by repeated 

 pottings, grow with extraordinary energy, 

 and that pots of too large a size, and those 

 not porous, are injurious; that a cutting 

 placed near the inner edge of a pot does 

 better than when placed nearer to the cen- 

 tre ; and finally, that a given quantity of 

 earth in a pot will support a much larger 

 plant than the same quantity in an open 

 border. Is it possible to unite the advan- 

 tages of potting into an open border ? This 

 is the problem I propose to discuss, and if 

 possible to solve. On what do the advan- 

 tages of porous pots depend ? 



" The natural soil which is most congen- 

 ial to the growth of the vine, and to the 

 perfection of its fruit, in this country [Eng- 

 land] is a light soil, sandy loam, not more 

 than eighteen inches in depth, on a dry 

 bottom of gravel stone, or rocks." — Hoare, 

 p. 44. 



You describe the grape border at Clin- 

 ton Point, as being nearly 3 feet deep. Is 

 Mr. Hoare's practice wrong ? Will it be 

 said, "Make the soil deep enough, if the 

 vines are not benefited by sending their 

 roots deep ; they will not be hurt by having 

 a rich, deep border, for they will seek the 

 place which suits them best." Not so ; 

 they know their present wants, but do not 

 know their future dangers. They may 

 come so near the surface as to be injured 

 by excess of heat and dryness, or go so 

 deep, as to be out of the reach of due heat 

 during the next spring, or where the water 

 is too abundant and stagnating. 



I venture to offer my opinion, that Mr. 

 Hoare's practice is the best for this coun- 

 try, as well as England. At the depth of 3 

 feet the heat of spring does not penetrate 



within a shorter period than thirfy-two or 

 three days. " If the bulb of a thermometer 

 is buried, for example, 1. m, 3, (i. e. 48 

 inches,) in the ground, the minimum [of 

 heat] will take place in March, the maxi- 

 mum in September; that is to say, two 

 months after the minimum, and the maxi- 

 mum in the air."* My own observation of 

 the temperature of the earth below the sur- 

 face may nearly coincide with those here 

 quoted. The results are greatly affected 

 by the falling of water, its quantity and its 

 temperature. 



But although Mr. Hoare's practice seems 

 to me right, his doctrines are by no means 

 correct. " One of the principal causes of 

 grapes not ripening well on an open wall 

 in this country, is the great depth of mould 

 in which the vines are suffered to run, 

 which, enticing them to penetrate in search 

 of food below the influence of the sun's 

 rays, supplies them with too great a quan- 

 tity of moisture." * * * 



" It is not mere earth that the roots re- 

 quire to come in contact with, but air also, 

 which is as necessary to them as to the roots 

 and branches." — p. 45.t 



This view of the subject is not correct. 

 The light of the sun's rays does penetrate 

 more than one, or at most, two inches. 

 The heat of those rays affects the soil in 

 24 hours to the depth of 6 inches, more or 

 less, according to the caloric, porosity, ca- 

 pacity for heat, and conducting power. 

 Trees grow perfectly well in cities with 

 their roots under stone flagging, impermea- 

 ble to every influence from the sun and air, 



* Keamtz Meteorology, p. 206. 



t Mr. Hoare deprecates the urging of vines too high when 

 their roots are cold. Might they not be warmed by wate 

 artificially heated ? 



