THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 45 



ing, is tlieiv undergoing decomposition so very slowly. — 

 Ji". Saul, Exotic Nursery, Chelsea:' 1847, p. 639. 



" Vineries at Bishop's Stortford. — The borders are admi- 

 rably constructed. The houses are built on the side of a low 

 hill, with a gravelly bottom. On the surface of the natural 

 ground, which was coated with concrete, the border has been 

 formed three and a half feet deep at the l)aclv, and two and a 

 half feet deep in the front, so that it slopes from back to 

 front, wdiere it is rounded oif. No rain can ever lodge there. 

 It was formed with burnt clay, (the bottom of some old brick- 

 kilns,) loamy turf from an old pasture, plasterer's rubbish, 

 hair and trimmings of hides (called fleshings,) from the tan 

 yards, and an enormous quantity of thoroughly rotten stable 

 manure, — the last border alone consumed a barge load of 

 forty tons of such manure. All these materials, after being 

 thrown together, were tlioroughly incorporated. They form 

 so loose a bed that a stick may be easily pushed through it 

 to the very bottom. Every November, these borders receive 

 a good mulching of stable manure, which remains to rot in 

 the succeeding summer ; so that the surface is always covered 

 by a rich decaying material which absorbs heat from the sun, 

 and detains the natural dampness of the border. The vines 

 are managed upon Mr. Crawshay's plan. 



" These vines were planted in 1843, cut back in 1844, 

 when each at once made the whole of the single rod that fur- 

 nishes the crop. These rods are now, on an average, five 

 and a half inches in circumference, and run straight up the 

 centre of each light, so that the leaves and bunches are ex- 

 posed to all the light and air which the houses can furnish. 

 The fruit produced by this practice is represented as being 

 very fine, the bunches not remarkably large, but the berries 

 are said to be beautiful, and the fruit equally distributed on 

 the vines throughout the house." 1847, p. 683. 



"A. B. says : In forming a new border, I should recom- 

 mend the soil to be excavated to the depth of three feet, not 

 more, but the wider the border is the better, — twenty feet is 



