Grapes 183 



rod, or a little over 4 Ib. per square yard. This quantity may be spread 

 over the surface or be thrown on the soil as it is turned up. When dig- 

 ging, the top soil is usually kept to the top, the bottom spit being 

 merely turned over and broken up. When the trenching is done, a good 

 dressing of old hot-bed manure or any well -rotted manure should be 

 pricked into the surface soil, and at the same time a dressing of some 

 good complete artificial manure may be given. The borders should then 

 receive a good watering and be left to settle down. 



It is always advisable to get an analysis of the soil when taking a 

 fresh place; expert advice as to the manure actually required can then 

 be obtained. Many growers when making up their borders use a great 

 quantity of bone meal. This manure certainly forms a lasting supply 

 of phosphates for the roots to draw upon. The famous pastures of 

 Cheshire were made fertile chiefly through the large dressings of coarse 

 bone applied to them years ago; 1 ton or more per acre of roughly 

 broken bone would be spread on the land and rolled in. This quantity 

 works out at 8 oz. per square yard, and if the grower intends to apply 

 it it can be spread on the surface before the trenching is begun, bone 

 meal being used instead of the broken bone. 



Now with regard to the preparation required where the situation is 

 not really suitable. Supposing that there is a thin soil of only about 

 a spit depth above a stiff retentive clay, or a subsoil full of water which 

 would be unhealthy for the roots to run in. In such a case the best 

 possible thing to do would be to build the walls of the houses high enough 

 to allow 2 ft. of extra soil to be put on the borders. Readers must 

 bear in mind that these directions only apply to the extreme cases men- 

 tioned; unless unlimited soil was obtainable it could not be done on a 

 large scale. 



Before bringing in the extra soil the borders should be taken one 

 at a time, the soil thrown out to the depth of 1 ft., and a drain laid 

 right down the length of the house, and then the whole bottom of the 

 excavation covered with clinker to the depth of 3 in. The top soil 

 is then returned, chalk and bone meal being thrown over it before- 

 hand. Each border is treated in the same way and the drains taken 

 off into a main as already described. When the whole house has been 

 prepared in this way the extra soil can be wheeled in and spread and 

 dressed as before. Provided the soil is available, this is not such an 

 expensive business as it may appear; for drain pipes cost little and clinkers 

 can be obtained at most destructor works for Qd. per cartload, and also 

 from gasworks, though the price may vary a little. At some destructors 

 the clinkers may be had for the carting away. Vine borders formed 

 in this way will be under the complete control of the grower, and should 

 be both warmer and drier than those formed on a level with the soil. 



Reverting to the ordinary procedure, it is usual only to prepare the 

 back borders the first year, and the remaining borders the second and 

 third year till the middle is reached. In this way freshly prepared 



