42 ON SOIL. 



excellence. The remaining aspects are those which 

 range successively from due south to due west. These 

 are all good ones, provided they are sheltered, or par- 

 tially so, from the destructive effects of the high 

 winds above -mentioned. North of the tvesteni point, 

 the maturation of the wood and fruit of the vine be- 

 comes uncertain ; nevertheless, tolerably good grapes 

 may be grown on the surface of a wall, having an as- 

 pect not farther north than icest by north. There is 

 however another aspect, that is noy^th of the eastern 

 point of the horizon, which is a very good one indeed, 

 and that is east by north. On a wall facing this 

 point, the sun shines till about eleven o'clock in the 

 morning. I have, for many years past, brought several 

 sorts of grapes, including the Black Hamburg, to 

 great perfection in this aspect. North of this point, 

 however, the solar rays are not sufficiently powerful 

 to mature either the wood or fruit of the vine. 



CHAPTER V. 



ON SOIL. 



The natural soil which is most congenial to the 

 growth of the vine, and to the perfection of its fruit 

 in this country, is a light, rich, sandy loam, not more 

 than eighteen inches in depth, on a dry bottom of 

 gravel, stones, or rocks. 



No sub -soil can possess too great a quantity of these 

 materials for the roots of the vine, which run with 

 eagerness into all the clefts, crevices, and openings in 

 which such sub-soils abound. In these dry and warm 

 situations, the fibrous extremities, pushing themselves 

 with the greatest avidity, and continually branching 

 out in every possible direction, lie secure from that 

 excess of moisture which frequently accumulates in 



