256 THE FRUIT GROWER'S GUIDE. 



drainage rubble should commence with the surface level ; the soil then cannot be water- 

 logged. 



Aerated Borders. Advantage is sometimes taken of raised borders to leave openings 

 here and there in the retaining wall to admit air to the drainage ; then upright pipes, 

 6 to 9 feet apart, passing through the soil and above it, with a wooden plug for closing 

 each pipe, are fixed. This system is useful on warm days in increasing the temperature 

 of the border, but the assumed aeration is the wrong way about, and, unless very complete 

 in action, neutralises the good offices of the rubble by allowing a circulation of air other 

 than through the whole border. Indeed, a body of air in the interstices of the drainage 

 kept still acts beneficially on the soil in maintaining warmth, and the air that follows 

 each supply of water aerates, sweetens, and purifies the border. 



Heated Borders. These have been advocated, adopted, and abandoned as not con- 

 ferring benefit proportionate to the outlay. Muscat of Alexandria grapes may be grown 

 successfully in outside borders, heated by hot-water pipes in chambers beneath, yet the 

 crops do not excel those produced by vines in inside borders without bottom heat. 

 Heated borders are sometimes requisitioned in very early forcing, the vines being 

 planted out, grown to a fruiting size, matured early, and started so as to ripen the crops 

 in March or April. (See " Vines in pots.") 



Site. Although grapes are produced almost everywhere, the crops are better in some 

 localities than in others. In flat, low-lying, damp districts vines are subject to gross- 

 ness, imperfect maturation of the wood, and more liable to attacks of mildew than in 

 higher and drier locations. The situation for vines must be open, no trees or buildings 

 obstructing the light at any part of the day. Vines succeed on east and west aspects 

 unshaded by neighbouring objects, but it is on the sunniest slopes, where the 

 drainage is perfect and the soil good, that the most luscious grapes are produced. The 

 border also requires sun and air as much as the vines. North borders that receive little 

 sun, soil beneath stages kept dark by the shade and soddened by the drip of plants, are 

 not the places best calculated to furnish food to maintain vines in health and fruitfulness. 

 Yet it is in the soil and through the roots their size, number, and character that the 

 foundation of early and permanent fertility is truly laid. 



Border Dimensions. A border 3 to 4 feet in width will support vines with three 

 times the foliage superficies, and good crops of grapes can be secured for a number of 

 years by recourse to top-dressings and renewal of the soil. Such widths of border 

 answer very well for houses 7 feet 6 inches to 9 feet wide, but the border, as a rule, should 



