228 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



practice is occasionally followed in the Rheni-gau, where a 

 strong prepossession exists in favor of manuring the vine- 

 yards,* and where small quantities of litter are spread around 

 the roots of the vines ; but the best authors concur in recom- 

 mending, that all the manure employed, should be first duly 

 fermented, at whatever time it may be used." — Grardeners' 

 Chronicle, 1848, p. 19. 



" The custom of introducing carcasses into vine borders, 

 for the purpose of obtaining monster bunches of flavorless 

 grapes, has prevailed for a considerable length of time in the 

 neighborhood of Leeds and Wakefield ; but the vines have 

 always, in a few years, become feeble and unproductive, in 

 consequence of the dense mass of putrefied matter being un- 

 suitable to the growth of fibrous roots. G." — Crardeners' 

 Chronicle, 1848, p. 3T. 



By James Roberts, Raby Castle. (As the remarks are 

 long, and much of it not having any practical bearing upon 

 the question, I shall only extract such facts as are different 

 from those already stated.) " In page 851, it is stated, 

 that the grapes I exhibited, on September 7th, 1841, have 

 been superseded by Mr. Hutchinson, gardener at Castle Mal- 

 gwyn. It certainly appears that the Hamburghs sent were 

 heavier, and, I have no doubt, others have shown heavier 

 bunches than mine, which, perhaps, were not the heaviest in 

 the Eshton range ; but, admitting they were, do the grapes 

 alluded to, supersede them as a collection ? This collection, 

 which was exhibited in London, on the 7th September, on the 

 9th,"was exhibited at York, and took five first prizes. Surely 

 then the grapes must have been good indeed, which, after re- 

 ceiving, I believe, the highest medal ever awarded for grapes, 

 at the society's rooms in London, travelled, by coach and rail, 

 between four hundred and five hundred miles, were packed 



* It is here admitted, that, in some wine countries, manuring is allowed, notwith- 

 standing tlie assertion, a few ^lines above, to the contrary. (See manuring vine- 

 _yards.) 



