On the Formation of Vhie Borders. 51 



" One of the best modern writers on the Vine, is Mr. Roberts 

 now gardener to the Duke of Cleveland, at Raby. His Trea- 

 tise on Vine Culture contains more really good advice, and 

 sensible suggestions as to the way in which this plant should 

 be managed in Vineries, than all the English books of routine, 

 which had been previously published, put together. His suc- 

 cess as a grape grower, while gardener to Mr. Matthew Wilson, 

 at Eshton Hall, near Skipton, was a brilliant example of the 

 general soundness of his principles. A large silver medal, 

 which was awarded by the Horticultural Society, to some 

 bunches of grapes, exhibited Sept. 7, 1841, sufficiently at- 

 tested the advantage of his practice ; nor were they a picked 

 sample, but a fair gathering from the Vineries under his care, 

 as we happen to know on the very best authority. 



" It is therefore with noordinary reluctance that we venture 

 to question a part of the system which Mr. Roberts advocates. 

 We allude to the employment of carrion in his Vine borders. 

 In a letter which we published last week, he states his con- 

 viction that this sort of manure is of the first degree of import- 

 ance. After mentioning that in his new Vine borders, not one 

 horse carcass, nor a portion of one, is buried, he expresses his 

 regret, that at the time he made them, it was not in his power 

 to avail himself of ' that pabulum to produce the nectar of 

 Bacchus.' (!) 'But,' he adds, ' if I was not able to add 

 carrion, except in a very limited degree, at the time my bor- 

 ders were made, I may mention that I fell in with a goodly 

 lot last winter, part of which has been added as a top-dressing 

 this autumn, and I intend in future to apply it to that purpose. 

 I am so cautious, that the least particle should not be wasted, 

 that I hoard it up as a miser would his gold.' 



" This is perfectly consistent with the directions which Mr. 

 Roberts has given in his Treatise. 



" 'I would recommend,' he there says, 'the autumn, if the 

 weather be dry. to prepare to fill in your border. If it ex- 

 tends the length of one, two, or more houses, a month previ- 

 ous to filling your border, provide a quantity of carrion — cat- 

 tle dying by accident, disease, &c., which, I am sorry to say, 

 has, of late years, been too common an occurrence. If you 

 have collected it some time beforehand, have it cut into small 

 pieces and laid up in soil, till the time of using. It emits a 



