On the Formation of Vine Borders. Ill 



various methods, by those who have practised them: each 

 party supposing that he had brought forward evidence sufficient 

 to set the subject at rest forever. But amidst much that is sound 

 and practical, there has been a goodly amount of extravagant 

 theory, speculation, and bombast; and, notwithstanding the 

 multitude of productions that have been penned upon this im- 

 portant subject, and the much-talked-of progress which horti- 

 culture has made of late years, we are, at the present time, as 

 far from a satisfactory conclusion, as if there had not been a 

 sentence written upon the subject, since the practical days 

 of Abercrombie and Speechly. 



On reading, in the Magazine for the present month, your 

 strictures on Mr. Allen's treatise on the cultivation of grape 

 vines, I have been induced, by my friend Mr. Saunders, to 

 send you the following account of some experiments I have 

 made in the formation of vine borders, in a very extensive 

 garden in Britain, with a few simple remarks thereon, the 

 result of extensive practice and close investigation into the 

 habits and requirements of the vine. I beg leave to remark, 

 that I do not bring forward these experiments for the purpose 

 of condemning the results of others; but I do wish to condemn 

 a bigoted and uncomplyable opinionism, and, when men write 

 on controverted subjects, like the culture of the vine, with the 

 view of benefiting their fellow-laborers, they ought to ad- 

 vance, not mere assertions, or opinions, though apparently 

 founded on facts, but the undisguised facts themselves, accom- 

 panied with their own deductions, if they will; but giving 

 others the credit of capacity in discriminating how far these 

 conclusions may be correct. 



Some years ago, I took the management of a garden, 

 where there were a number of old vineries, nearly useless, 

 and three new ones in course of erection. The ingredients 

 necessary to constitute a good border for vines formed the 

 subject of violent controversy in the periodicals of the day, 

 and the carnivorous border of Crawshay, Roberts & Co. was 

 not the least popular, and to which I was decidedly partial. 

 Having every material at command, and a good opportunity 

 thus presented, of testing the merits of the different systems, 

 I resolved that each house should have a border as differently 

 constituted, as was consistent with a likelihood of success. 



