26 THE BOOK OF THE GRAPE 



to the above mixture, all the better. The turfy loam 

 should be broken up with a spade or digging fork, 

 and the whole mixed well together before being wheeled 

 on to the excavated border which, in the meantime, has 

 been prepared. 



MAKING THE BORDER 



Unless the subsoil or substratum consist of limestone 

 or chalk, it will be advisable to bottom the border with 

 from four to six inches of concrete or chalk well 

 pounded, so as to prevent the roots of the vines from 

 pushing into a wet, poor, cold, uncongenial subsoil, and 

 at the same time to confine the roots in the prepared 

 soil. With regard to the depth and width of a border 

 necessary to the production of heavy crops of first-rate 

 grapes, I satisfied myself many years ago by practical 

 experience that a border about ten feet wide and two 

 feet three inches deep, immediately inside or outside 

 the front wall, as the case may be, sloping down to a 

 depth of eighteen inches at the southern limits of the 

 border, defined by a nine-inch retaining wall, is amply 

 sufficient. The depths given above include four 

 inches of brickbats or clinkers, broken somewhat fine 

 for drainage. Stones with a little gravel put on 

 top to fill in the chinks would answer the purpose 

 equally as well. The bottom of the border should 

 slope at the rate of about one inch in the foot to the 

 retaining wall, a gutter brick being imbedded in, and 

 level with, the concrete or chalk surface, covered 

 by another placed upside down, and connected with 

 a drain, as a means of carrying away any superfluous 

 water that might otherwise accumulate about the roots 

 of the vines at an undesirable time of year. The drain- 

 age should be covered with turves a couple of inches 

 thick, one foot wide, and from two to three feet long, 



