TREATMENT IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS 61 



positions on the trellis. As soon as the buds burst into 

 growth, the vines should be carefully untied and secured 

 in position on the trellis. 



The border should next receive attention. Rake off 

 with a fine rake the loose surface soil from the border 

 in which the vines are growing, then point it over 

 slightly with a digging fork, being careful not to go 

 deep enough to injure the network of roots near the 

 surface, and top-dress with horse-droppings to the 

 depth of two or three inches. Before keeping the house 

 close and moist with a view to " starting" the vines into 

 growth, give the whole a good watering with water at a 

 temperature of from eighty to ninety degrees. Each 

 successive watering will wash the virtues of the drop- 

 pings down to the roots with beneficial results. In 

 addition to this, the suj^ite-dressing conserves the heat 

 and moisture in the boiler. A fresh section of a new 

 border may now be made, or prepared for, by first 

 mixing up the necessary 'ingredients in a convenient 

 place out of doors, and covering the mixture with some 

 warm stable manure or fermenting leaves from the leaf- 

 coop to the depth of from eighteen inches to twenty-four 

 inches, so as to impart a little warmth to the compost 

 before bringing it into contact with the young roots of 

 the vines a few weeks later. In making the new section, 

 make allowance for the loose soil settling down about 

 six inches within a fortnight or so from the time of 

 making. A similar allowance should be made in making 

 all new borders or portions thereof. 



The above-mentioned operations having been com- 

 pleted, the house may be kept close at night and fairly 

 so in the daytime providing a minimum night tempera- 

 ture of from forty-five to fifty degrees, according as 

 the weather is cold or mild, should be observed, rising 

 with sun-heat to sixty-five degrees. A moist atmos- 

 phere being secured by syringing the vines morning and 



