Notes and Gleanuigs. 233 



The remedial measures are, to form the border inside, or have it warmed by 

 hot-water pipes in chambers under it ; to protect it from heavy and cold rains ; to 

 form it, in all instances where practicable, above the surrounding ground-level ; 

 and to provide the most effectual drainage possible, and this more particularly 

 where the soil is of a cold, wet, clayey nature. I found that the vines planted in 

 a border sunk so as to be level with the surrounding surface always had a ten- 

 dency to shanking in the bunches which they produced, even after they had been 

 lifted and the border thoroughly drained. The following course was therefore 

 adopted : The surface of the border was concreted with lime-riddlings and 

 gravel well pounded ; and two-inch drain-pipes were laid thereon, so as to form 

 one drain lengthwise eighteen inches from the front lights, another a like dis- 

 tance from the back, and one in the centre. These drains extended the length 

 of the border, came out a yard beyond it at each end, and were crossed by simi- 

 lar pipes extending from the front to the back of the border, forming, where they 

 crossed those laid longitudinally, a four-inch opening or parting covered with a 

 tile. The cross-drains were four feet apart. Upon the tiles was laid a foot of 

 brickbats, from which the finer portions had been sifted out by an inch sieve ; 

 and on the brickbats was placed turf, grass-side downwards. The border was 

 composed of turf, cut three inches thick, from a pasture, the soil of which was a 

 lightish hazel or yellow loam resting on a gravelly sub-soil. The turf was laid 

 on fresh,. as cut, grass-side downwards ; and between every layer boiled half-inch 

 bones were strewn, until the border had been carried up to the height of twenty- 

 four inches. When finished, it had the appearance of an inclining terrace, with 

 slopes in front and at the ends ; the drain-tiles extending beyond these, and 

 being each fitted with a wooden plug, so that they could be opened or closed at 

 will. During the growing season, these plugs were taken out daily, if the tem- 

 perature of the air exceeded that of the border, but at no other time ; and they 

 were invariably put in at night. Vines were of course planted, and the grapes 

 did not shank. The border, having a sloping top or surface, was covered with 

 boards if the weather proved unfavorably wet. 



2d, Vitiated Sap. — In vineries where the borders are inside, shanking is not 

 wholly unknown ; nor in heated borders is it invariably true that grapes do not 

 shank. I have seen them shank under what we may term very unfavorable con- 

 ditions for the disease, and notwithstanding every precaution taken to guard 

 against it. I fully believe the vine to be no feeder on carrion, nor any of those 

 strong manures which subside during decomposition into a soapy mass, in which 

 no vine-root will live for a single winter, or, if so, only to push into the subsoil, 

 or anywhere out of the reach of the putrefaction. Very often, vine-borders are 

 made so that the mouths of the vines planted in them are rotted off, at times 

 taking up so much food as to cover the roof with an undue amount of foliage, 

 and at other times scarcely enough for the pressing demands of the leaves and 

 fruit ; but, if this cause shanking, what is it but an insufficient supply of sap .'' 

 The roots not taking up the supply of food as decomposed or rendered availa- 

 ble, it is absorbed by the soil adjoining ; and this goes on constantly, so that the 

 soil not only becomes excessively rich, but sodden, sour, and deprived of air 

 from its closeness. It surely must follow, that the spongioles take up food in a 



