ROOTS OF GRAPE VINES. 165 



It will be of great advantage to a vine planted in this 

 way in summer, to give it about a quart of good rich 

 warm soap-suds every day for a fortnight after it 

 is planted, as this will most materially promote its 

 growth. 



In planting vines under glass, care should always 

 be taken to avoid the common, but capital erroi\ of 

 placing the stems of them directly under the rafters. 

 Rafters and sashbars reduce the quantity of light that 

 the glass admits, and thus operate injuriously ; they 

 are, however, necessary evils, but the fewer there are 

 in number within a given space, and the less surface 

 each occupies, the better. But to plant a vine, the 

 main stem or branch of which will become one of its 

 grand receptacles of nourishing matter, in a situation 

 where the direct rays of the sun can never reach it, is 

 certainly one of the most absurd and contradictory 

 things imaginable. The proper situation, without 

 doubt, is under the centre of a light ; the main stem 

 and all the branches, and of course the fruit also, will 

 then enjoy the full power of the sun. 



The bed of materials being made and enclosed, and 

 the vines planted, a brief review may now be taken 

 of the conditions by which the roots are surrounded. 



Here then is a mass of materials, the mechanical 

 texture and arrangement of which constitute the very 

 delight of the vine. 



The innumerable cavities and interstices, and the 

 extraordinary extent of surface for the roots to trav- 

 erse which such a mass possesses when put compactly- 

 together, offer to the roots of the vines planted in it 

 such facilities of growth, and the substances them- 

 selves such means of nourishment and support, as 

 cannot be obtained from a hundred times its bulk of 

 mere soil. All the substances, except the bones, pos- 

 sess in common the highest powers of absorption. 

 The porosity of charcoal is such, that its cells occupy 

 more than one half of its cubical contents. The 

 beneficial effects of it, therefore, as an absorbent and 

 a retainer of moisture, render it invaluable as a com- 



