4 A TREATISE ON THE 



fold and leaf-mould ; let all be well mixed together, adding a 

 little sand if the loam be deficient of it. Choose a dry time for 

 preparing the whole, as much depends on its being well mixed 

 in good working order. When it is thus prepared, suffer this 

 mixture to lie in a heap for a month or two before using it, and 

 let it be occasionally turned, so that it may become thoroughly 

 amalgamated. It will be necessary to give it some shelter from 

 the drenching rain, either in an open shed, or other convenient 

 protection, not excluding it from the action of the air. 



In spreading the border with the sods, and also with the 

 above compost, great care must be taken to avoid trampling it, 

 which can be done by laying a plank down for the workman's 

 footsteps. By so doing the sods will be preserved in their rough 

 unbroken state, which is most desirable ; and the whole border 

 will settle gradually of itself, and the surface will be smooth 

 and even. In preparing this compost, take care to have plenty, 

 so that there may be a reserve in case of casualties ; you are 

 thus certain of having precisely the same mixture, if it should 

 be required, which will be preferable in all respects to a strange 

 compost being added. The border, when entirely completed, 

 should remain undisturbed a week or ten days, and in the 

 course of that time it will, doubtless, settle down more or less ; 

 and if it be found to have sunk below the desired level, it can 

 easily be raised with a little of the superabundant compost. 



As the health and fruitfulness of all vegetable productions 

 mainly depend on the state of the roots, it must be evident that 

 no crop can arrive at perfection unless they be in good order ; 

 consequently it will at once be seen how necessary it must be 

 to supply them with whatever is most congenial to them. Now, 

 as scarcely any two sorts of fruit-trees thrive equally well in 

 one and the same compost, I am (in order to make the necessary 

 distinction) the more particular in endeavouring to point out, 

 as clearly as I can, the method and soil which I have, in the 

 course of my experience, found to answer best for the growth 

 of grapes ; and having completed these directions for making 



