GRAPE VINES BORDERS FOR VINES UNDER GLASS. 251 



mortar, stony road-scrapings, cinders, or burned clay, so as to form a friable compost. 

 Let the excavation have a slight incline to a drain in front, and concrete the bottom 

 to a depth of 4 to 6 inches, then place in a foot in depth of drainage, formed of brick- 

 bats or other hard material, the roughest at the bottom, the finest on the top, which 

 cover with turves, and then place on the compost to a depth of 2 feet. Where drainage 

 is not practicable, the border may be made wholly on the surface. 



Borders for Vines under Glass. The foregoing remarks are also applicable to vines in 

 glass cases or greenhouses, and the roots entirely in outside borders. For special culture 

 in vineries richer soil is needed ; therefore light soils may have decayed cow manure, and 

 heavy soils sweetened manure from horse stables, thoroughly incorporated with them. 



Pig. 76. VINE ROOTS IN A GOOD NATURAL GRAPH Son,, AND IN AN UNSTTITABLE ARTIFICIAL BOEDER. 

 References : E, section of a gravelly soil (oolite), showing vine roots in the natural soil. F, artificial border, 

 showing vine roots in the drainage instead of the loam the top 2 inches of an old pasture, with a sprinkling of 

 ^-inch bones : u, drainage ; v, drain ; w, bricks on flat, with joints run with cement. 



Good garden soil, properly enriched, stirred, and well drained, will produce fine grapes, 

 but most grape growers prefer fresh loam for making new or renovating old borders. 



The soil generally selected is the top 3 inches of an old pasture. If the herbage 

 is close, and sheep thrive upon it, the staple is considered perfect as a lightish soil ; 

 when the grass fattens oxen, the soil is deemed specially suitable as a heavy medium. 

 The former answers for vines in pots, and those grown to supply early grapes ; 

 but the latter finds most favour with growers for the stronger, larger, and later 

 varieties. The staple, however, varies, so that substances are added to the loam to 

 give it the desired mechanical texture. The top 3 inches of a deer-park, sheepwalk, 

 or old pasture is peculiarly suited to vines, because food has accumulated through 

 the growth of gramineous and leguminous plants, though well-conditioned arable land 



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