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THE FORMATION OF VINE BORDERS. 



• situation naturally wet, great care must 

 be taken to have it thoroughly drained ; 

 for upon perfect drainage depends your 

 future success. No matter how judicious 

 your treatment in the house is, if the roots 

 are not in a vigorous and healthy condi- 

 tion, no satisfactory result can be obtained. 

 Should the subsoil be a dry, gravelly bot- 

 tom, less drainage will be required ; and 

 no situation so well suits the vine, as that 

 which is thus drained by nature. I would 

 recommend, in very low, wet situations, to 

 adopt the same system of drainage as is 

 practiced at Stradsett Park, Welbeck, and 

 Alton Towers, and many other places in 

 England, viz., to chamber the border ; which 

 may be accomplished by running nine-inch 

 walls across the border, one foot high, and 

 covering them with good flag stones, such 

 as are used in paving streets; the larger 

 they can be obtained the better. They 

 should not be placed so close together as to 

 prevent the superfluous moisture passing 

 off into the bottom of the chamber. Ten 

 or twelve inches of oyster shells should be 

 placed on the top of the flag stones, previ- 

 ous to the earth being placed upon it. [A 

 foot of loose small stones will answer just 

 as well as this chamber. — Ed.] A drain 

 should run along the bottom of the cham- 

 ber at the front, and be conducted to the 

 most convenient place to discharge any wa- 

 ter that may settle there. 



In borders that do not require to be cham- 

 bered, one foot of oyster shells should be 

 placed upon the paved bottom. The object 

 of paving the bottom, is to prevent the roots 

 penetrating deeper than the bottom of the 

 border, whereby they will be freed from 

 the "contaminating influence of a bad sub- 

 soil." In no case should the border be ele- 

 vated above the surface more than two or 

 three inches. 



Vineries that are to produce ripe fruit in 



March and April. — In houses of this de- 

 scription, where forcing commences in No- 

 vember and December, it will be desirable 

 that a wall be built, three or four feet from 

 the back wall of the house, and run paral- 

 lel with it, to the height of three feet six 

 inches. The bottom of this should also be 

 paved, and have an inclination towards the 

 front. A brick should be left out at the 

 distance of three feet apart in the first 

 course of the wall. For drainage, oyster 

 shells, if obtainable, to the depth of twelve 

 inches, should be placed at the bottom ; 

 and whenever this border is watered, either 

 with pure water or liquid manure, it should 

 be thoroughly saturated, so that a copious 

 discharge should run from the bottom. 

 The advantage of these small borders 

 over large diffused borders, in early forcing, 

 is that the border, being elevated, attains 

 nearly to the temperature of the house ; 

 and being in close proximity to the glass, 

 has the advantage of the sun's rays upon 

 the surface of the border, which is a de- 

 sideratum devoutly to be wished for, as the 

 electrical rays of the sun-light are of the 

 highest importance to the well being of the 

 vines. Lastly, being planted at the back 

 of the house, and the vines being trained 

 downwarus, under the rafters, it will have 

 the effect to induce them to develop every 

 eye in the vine, which will be found to be 

 of the utmost importance to the cultivator, 

 especially in early vineries. Houses that I 

 recommended in my article, on " Culture 

 of Vines in Pots," will be admirably adapted 

 for the purpose of early forcing. It is the 

 system of the late Patrick Flannigan, who 

 introduced it to notice some thirty years 

 since. Vineries that he then planted are 

 yet in fine order, and carrying splendid 

 crops of fruit to this day ; thus showing the 

 capabilities of these small borders, when 

 judiciously managed. 



