GRAPE VINE BORDERS. 



interest and systematic attention AT'hich seems almost like managing the affiiirs of state 

 About half a mile from the house is the farmery — the most complete group of farm build- 

 ings perhaps, in the world, where the in-coming harvest makes a figure only equalled by 

 the accommodations to receive it. Besides these there are mills and workshops of all kinds, 

 and on the out-skirts of the park a whole settlement of farm cottages. I can only give 

 you an idea of the attention bestowed on details, and the interest taken in the comfort of 

 the immediate tenants bj^ resorting to figures, and telling 3'ou that the present Duke has 

 expended i270, 000, ( 1^350,000,) within the past five years, in the farm cottages on this 

 estate, which are model cottages — combining the utmost convenience and comfort for dwel- 

 lings of this class, with so much of architectural taste as is befitting to dwellings of this 

 size. Of course, a large part of this estate is let out to tenants, but still a large tract is ma- 

 naged by the Duke himself, who pays more than 400 laborers weekly throughout the year. 

 The farming is very thorough, and the effects of draining in improving the land have been 

 very striking. Above fifty miles of drain have been laid, in this estate alone, annually, for 

 several years past. 



You will gather from this, that English agriculture is not made a mere recreation, and 

 that even with the assistance of the most competent and skillful agents, the life of a noble- 

 man with the immense estate and the agricultural tastes of the Duke of Bedford, is one 

 of constant occupation and active emplo3"ment. Besides this estate, he has another in 

 Cambridgeshire, called the " Bedford Level" — avast prairie of some 18,000 acres reclaimed 

 from the sea, and kept dry by the constant action of steam engines, but Avhich is very pro- 

 ductive, and is perhaps, the most profitable form land in the kingdom. Yours, A. J. D. 



GRAPE VINE BORDERS. 



BY R. BUIST, PHILADELPHIA 



Those who read the various periodicals of the day, and who reflect on the past, present 

 and future, must have their risibilities frequently agitated by articles on the composition of 

 grape vine borders. We have read of nothing from the days of Adam to "WAsniNGTOX to 

 compare with the blood and carrion of the recent da3^s of grape growing. From such we must 

 expect grapes far outvieing the land of Eschol or the graperies of SPEECnLT. Every 

 science has its hobby and ever}'' practitioner his ultimatum. In medical science the days 

 of phlebotomy are gone, and horticulture is at prcKsent nauseated with ofFal and ammo- 

 nia. What produces the rich and luscious grapes on the movmtain sides of Southern Europe? 

 What on the calcarious steeps in the vicinity of Paris, or the sandy alluvial of Thomery .'' 

 What gives the exhuberant growth and heavy product of the famous vine at Hampton 

 Court, or its more famous rival at Cumberland Lodge? We say a dry bottom, thin, warm 

 free soil, with a regular periodical stimulant either of decomposed lava — mineral or vege- 

 table substances. Of these two celebrated vines, the former is said to luxuriate in an old 

 sewer, but that is a mere say so, and not a fact! the latter grows in the dry sandy loam 

 of an old garden, on a sandy clay bottom that no roots will penetrate — perfectly natural 

 soil, (as you may have seen it, and no mystery about it,) peculiar to that vicinity, and no 

 doubt very genial to the growth of the vine, which should be analysed for the benefit of 

 those who are affected with the carrion and composition mania. 



Sometime ago, we saw a grape vine border made three to four feet deep, according to the 



wed judgment of a recent writer, and though the drainage was perfect the vines did 



ow in it; the second year the roots became rotten and musty — the composition 



