BRIGHT ON GRAPE CULTURE. 25 



TOP-DRESSING, COMPOSTS FOR FRUIT. 



Before placing the pots in the cellar, remove all the 

 old soil you can from the pots, without injury to the 

 roots, and apply a top-dressing, to promote the forma- 

 tion of fruit. This will decompose, and gradually in- 

 corporate itself with the mass of the soil, and will an- 

 swer nearly as well as if you remove the vine from the 

 pot, and shift to a larger pot, with an increase of com- 

 post. The usual top-dressing is composed of rich loam, 

 bone dust, cow dung, or well rotted stable manure, as 

 before. But this dressing, although with the after ap- 

 plication of liquid manure it will afford good grapes in 

 abundance, does not meet the full requirements of 

 the fruiting vine, and consequently cannot be ex- 

 pected to produce the largest, most perfectly colored, 

 and highly flavored bunches. 



The special manures required for the fruiting vine, 

 are carbonaceous matter, silicate of potash, alkaline 

 phosphates, tartrate of potash, and a small proportion 

 of ammonia. The best method of supplying substances 

 affording these ingredients, will be given in another 

 part of this work. 



THIRD YEAR — EARLY FORCING. 



After the vines are cut back, at the end of the second 

 season, say first of October, remove as much of the soil 



