THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 203 



ous communications have appeared, in some of the gardening 

 periodicals, in relation to the practice of using the carcasses 

 of dead animals. This discussion has taken place in conse- 

 quence of the publication of a small, hut excellent little work, 

 of only eighty or ninety pages, upon the culture of the grape, 

 by Mr. Roberts, a very successful cultivator. Probably, few 

 copies of the volume have ever found their way here, in con- 

 sequence of the high price at which it was published. We, 

 however, received a copy when it first appeared, and read it 

 with much interest, and came to the same conclusion as Dr. 

 Lindley, whose article we are about to notice, that it was one 

 of the most thorough, practical, and common-sense treatises 

 which we had ever read, and, saving its recommendation 

 of the ' pabulum'* of dead animals, to produce the ' nectar 

 of Bacchus,' was just Avhat every cultivator of the grape 

 was in need of. We had intended to have prepared a Re- 

 view of it, but other matters pressed upon us, and it was, for 

 the time, forgotten. 



" The preparation of our article in our last volume brought 

 the subject up anew, and it was in reference to Mr. Roberts's 

 views that we made the remark before quoted. Subse- 

 quently to the publication of our paper, and unknown to us 

 at the time we wrote, appeared ^Ir. Allen's pamphlet on the 

 culture of the grape, in which he advises the use of car- 

 casses of dead animals, if they can be had, to such an extent 

 as to cover the bottom of the border. In our Review of 

 this work, (Vol. 13, p. 409,) we incidentally stated our objec- 

 tion to this practice, believing it to be of no use, but rather 

 injurious to the future health of the vines. 



" Since that time, the discussion of this question has prin- 

 cipally taken place, and, to show that our views are the same 

 as those entertained by experienced cultivators, as well as 

 scientific writers, abroad, we have quoted the following arti- 

 cle from the Gardeners' Chronicle for December last, to 

 which we ask especial attention." — Magazine of Horticul- 

 ture, Vol. 14, page 49. 



* A substance affording nourishment. 



