54 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



I then laid upon the bottom thus formed, broken stones and 

 lime rubbish to the depth of one foot, leaving a depth for 

 compost of two feet six inches. Upon the broken stones, 

 every six or eight feet square, I have placed large limestones, 

 of the same nature as the far-famed Skip ton rock, which I 

 have no doubt contribute to retain moisture in a dry season, 

 and to facihtate the drainage in a wet one. The compost and 

 manures I most recommend, and which I made use of, are, 

 two parts the parings of a piece of old pasture land, a strong- 

 loam, laid up one year, (or till the sward is half decom- 

 posed,) in the form of a potato hod, close covered in with 

 soil, and never turned ; one part, the turf with four inches of 

 the soil, of a looser texture, laid up for the same period, and 

 not turned, as before ; an eighth part, scrapings of the high- 

 ways formed from limestone, or other hard material ; and the 

 other eighth part, half-decomposed horse or cow dung. I am 

 not an advocate for turning over and mixing the materials 

 promiscuously together, as, by often turning, the compost be- 

 comes too solid, losing a great portion of its fertilizing prop- 

 erty by such repeated intermixture ; and, unless it be of a 

 very sandy, loose texture, the border will, in a few years, be- 

 come impervious both to water and to atmospheric air, which 

 are of incalculable benefit to the growth of the vine. I would 

 recommend the autumn, if the weather be dry, to prepare to 

 fill in your border. A month previous to filling your border, 

 provide a quantity of carrion, cattle dying by accident, dis- 

 ease, &c., which, I am sorry to say, has, of late years, been 

 too common an occurrence. If you have collected it some- 

 time beforehand, have it cut into small pieces and laid up in 

 soil, till the time of using. It emits a very nauseous efiluvia, 

 but this must be borne, for this is the pabulum to produce the 

 nectar of Bacchus. When all is ready, and the weather fa- 

 vorable, proceed at one end of your border, wheehng in and 

 mixing the materials in proportion as they stand to each other 

 in my previous directions, on no account breaking the materi- 

 als in mixing, but turn them in as rough as possible, adding 



