20 



CHAPTER IV. 



VINE BORDEKS THEIR FORMATION, MANURES, 

 SOIL, ETC. 



'HE Grape Vine is a remarkably free-growing plant, and is found 

 I in a state of great luxuriance under many very opposite 

 conditions, and in soils of a widely different character. The 

 consistency of the soil, its mechanical composition, so to speak, 

 appears to be of far more importance than the actual ingredients 

 themselves of which it may be composed. For example, we know 

 of Vines doing remarkably well on very calcareous soils, on deep 

 alluvial loams, on very shallow soils, where the roots penetrate into 

 the fissures of the rocks in search of food, yea, on heaps of stone almost, 

 as well as in beds of the richest manure. The Vine, however, is 

 never found to succeed in wet, clayey, tenacious soils ; a certain 

 amount of aeration and porosity of the soil seems to be an absolute 

 necessity, with an abundance of water at certain seasons. From these 

 general principles, therefore, it will be seen that it is not so very 

 difficult to arrive at a knowledge of the kind of soil best suited for 

 the cultivation of the Vine, and that the formation of a Vine border 

 is a task, the carrying out of which does not require any very great 

 skill. 



Soils. The soil best suited in itself for the growth of the Vine 

 is a fibry calcareous yellow or virgin loam. No analysis that can 

 be given will convey much information as to the exact constituents 

 of the soil that is meant, which is that termed " fibry yellow loam," 

 although by every Vine cultivator the designation is well understood. 

 It is the top-soil or turf, cut from two to four inches thick, from an 

 old pasture or field. It is " fibry," from containing all the fibrous 

 roots of the herbage or grass growing on it. It is "yellow," by 

 reason of its not having been in cultivation for some considerable 

 time, so that it contains little or no organic matter. Soils under 

 cultivation, by having organic matter introduced, soon lose this yellow 

 and fresh appearance. The term " virgin " loam is sometimes used. 

 Indeed, the word " loam^' itself is one of wide meaning, since soils 

 that are termed " loamy " range from sand to clay ; thus we have 

 what is termed " sandy loam," and also " clayey loam." It is the 

 intermediate order or quality of loamy soil that is best suited for the 

 Vine, a fibry yellow loam of a calcareous nature, neither too light and 

 sandy, nor too heavy and adhesive, but yet possessing some degree 

 of holding substance. 



"This soil will breed in rampant health the Vine, 

 And gushing with a perfect wealth of wine, 

 A mass of Grapes in clusters manifold. " 



The Georgics of Virgil (Blackmore). 



