56 On, the Formation of Vine Borders. 



the border, was hazelly loam, with its turf three parts, and 

 one part brick, lime rubbish, and broken stones, with a little 

 rich old dung, the turf well rotted and the whole well incor- 

 porated ; the borders are forked up and watered with liquid 

 manure once a year.' 



"Mr. Roberts will thus see that his fine Eshton grapes are 

 ' superseded ; ' are, in fact, beaten by specimens more than 

 twice as good, and that by the use of simple, inoffensive 

 means, which, moreover, do not render a garden more pesti- 

 lent than a London churchyard, and so dangerous to health, 

 that it would be infallibly indicted, if it existed within the 

 reach of any sanitory regulations. Should Mr. Roberts remain 

 unconvinced by these arguments, we would at least endeavor 

 to persuade him to defer the use of carrion till the coming 

 cholera shall have quitted us." 



We, of course, would not attempt to put our grapes in com- 

 parison with the famous ones of Mr. Roberts, whose borders 

 are twenty-four feet wide, and three and a half feet deep, and 

 whose houses are exclusively devoted to the vine. But to 

 show to what perfection the culture of the grape may be car- 

 ried in the greenhouse or conservatory, where there is a col- 

 lection of valuable greenhouse plants, we shall give the 

 weight of a few clusters which were produced on our vines 

 last year, then only five years old. 1'he border, it will be 

 recollected, is only fourteen feet wide, and two and a half 

 deep, made of good loam and stable manure, with the addi- 

 tion of a few ground bones, and top-dressed with forty or fifty 

 pounds of guauo. 



Black Hamburgh, 3 lbs. 8 oz., 3 lbs. 4 oz., and 2 lbs. 12 oz. re- 

 spectively, from one vine. Wilmot's Black Hamburgh, 2 lbs. S 

 oz., and 2 lbs. 4 oz. respectively, from one vine; the berries 

 of the latter measuring four inches in diameter; each vine 

 bearing from 15 lbs. to 20 lbs. We do not note these as any 

 thing remarkable, as we have seen Black Hamburghs weigh- 

 ing 4 lbs. ; but they are not very common. 



With these remarks, we commend the subject to the atten- 

 tion of all who are about commencing the cultivation of the 

 grape : the preparation of the border is important, but it should 

 not be overdone. 



