JOURNAL OF THE LONDON HORT. SOCIETY. 



91 



With regard to border-making; and thorough 

 drainage: I am persuaded that a Tast proportion of 

 the grapes which do not colour well, are planted 

 m borders not adapted to meet the great extremes 

 of moisture to which our fitful climate is subject. 

 It is also certain that orer-cropping alone is one 

 cause of the colouring, and of course the flavoring, 

 process being incomplete in a great number of 

 cases. 



It is quite clear from numberless instances, that 

 porous materials for the mere transmission of 

 moisture, and of course atmospheric influences, 

 may be used to the extent of nearly one-half the 

 volume of the compost with propriety. Mr. 

 Hoare's sj'stem, as it is called, although a failure, 

 will, I make no doubt, have done much good in 

 this respect; one of Mr. Hoare's chief errors being 

 undoubtedly the total exclusion of soil from his 

 compost. 



Whatever depth of border may be adopted, the 

 substratum should be so complete as to bid defiance 

 to excess of moisture from both springs beneath, 

 and atmospheric moisture above. This being se- 

 cured, the next point is compost; chopped turf of 

 a loamy character, and inclined to what is termed 

 "sandy loam," is, lam assured, complete, or nearly 

 so, in itself for this purpose, providing the previous 

 points be efficiently secured: as, however, soils, as 

 well as subsoils, differ so much in point of mechani- 

 cal texture, it is perhaps wise on the whole to use 

 a mixture which, in point of texture, may bid de- 

 fiance to all weathers. 



Two-thirds then, of the loam above described, 

 with the other third composed of equal parts of 

 charred brush -wood, old plaster, and what is term- 

 eil by agriculturists " half-inch bone," (boiled 

 bone,) will be found all that can be desired or 

 nearly so in border-making. 



The loamy turf should be from very old rest land, 

 the older the ley the better; if not of considerable 

 age, I would prefer it from an old lane or road side. 

 It should be merely quartered with the spade, and 

 should by no means be either cut or handled in any 

 way when wet; dryness is as indispensable a point 

 in handling the material for a vine border as for 

 harvesting. 



The loamy turf should be thrown in alternate 

 layers with the other portion of the materials, 

 which should be well blended together and close at 

 hand: — some raw stable manure, chiefly droppings, 

 should be strewed in thin and regular layers, all 

 through the mass. Before, however, filling the 

 above compost, which I should advise to be two 

 feet in depth, I would place a layer of half-charred 

 brush-wood, of some strength, over the drainage 

 and substratum; this layer should be nearly a foot 

 in depth. 



Such a border I am assured would defy all wea- 

 lliers, and woulil be found after several years, on 

 the stamp of a foot, to have preserved its elasticity 

 in a very considerable degree; providing that mor- 

 tal enemy to texture, "the spade," be kept from it. 

 It would only be necessary to cover the roots occa- 

 sionally with a slight dressing of raw manure, the 

 moment the vines had cast their leaves. 



Some cultivators seem to think that a healthy 



vine will carry all the fruit it may <«show;" so it 

 will, but in what way? — why, in the production of 

 small berries, deficient in colour and flavor; for be 

 it understood, the two latter points always accom- 

 pany each other. In addition to this, another evil 

 is to be feared, viz : an injurious lessening of the 

 vital energies of the vine. 



It will generally be found, I believe, after all the 

 complaints about large grapes, that the latter, when 

 thoroughly coloured, are decidedly richer than the 

 under-sized ones. 



It may be asked therefore, what is the true me- 

 dium to be observeil? It is, I confess, not easy to 

 answer this so as to be perfectly understood; how- 

 ever, as a general rule, I should say that spurred 

 vines confined to the rafter, and established on the 

 principle of border-making before detailed, will 

 assuredly, under good management, produce from 

 fifteen to twenty pounds weight each, every year, 

 for many years. Vines spread over the whole 

 house will yield a third more. It is, however, a 

 better plan, where very superior fruit is the object, 

 to keep below this mark. The leading shoot, if 

 there be one, is a pretty good criterion of the ener- 

 gies of the vine; this, if the vine is honestly crop- 

 ped, should always be disposed, and also allowed, 

 if possible, to ramble freely. 



One point in connection with good grape. grow- 

 ing is an elevated border. One half of the cubical 

 contents of a vine border should, in my estimation, 

 be above the ground-level of the front walk. Now 

 it will be found, I believe, on close examination, 

 that a great portion of the old vineries in the king- 

 dom, by a defect in the original plan of fixing the 

 floor-line too low, preclude, by the level of the 

 front sashes (if any exist), the possibility of the 

 border being much higher. Now as it will, I con- 

 ceive, be admitted that the floor-line has in most 

 cases an intimate relation with the wall-plate, and 

 of course the front sashes, it becomes a matter of 

 considerable importance to establish itarighl; and 

 I always consider it an omen of good vine culture 

 to ascend into a vinery by several steps. 



Another and a very common error, according to 

 my opinion, is the mode of managing young vines 

 for the first two years in newly-planted vineries: 

 they are disbudded and trimmed as sprucely as if 

 the object was to carry heavy crops and to obtain 

 plump eyes. Now the primary object of good cul- 

 tivation should be, I conceive, to obtain a border 

 tolerably well filled with roots. 



The best way to accomplish this, is to allow the 

 top to run riot entirely for the first year, and nearly 

 so in the second; for without abundance of leaf 

 there cannot be abundance of root. In the second 

 year, however, the laterals should be stripped en- 

 tirely away, in a progressive manner, from as much 

 of the main stem as it is intendetl to retain at the 

 winter's pruning, in order to admit light to the 

 principal leaves, on the agencj' of which the suc- 

 cess of the first year's fruit depends. 



It has been the opinion of many, perhaps the ma- 

 jority of cultivators, that '"shanking" in grapes is 

 occasioned by atmospheric influences: I am of a 

 very dill'erent opinion. I do not however say that 

 such checks, through sudden depressions of tempe- 



