FRUIT UNDER GLASS. 137 
very steep pitch ; flat-roofed vineries are most prejudicial to 
ripe grapes hanging under them in winter. 
Whilst the gardener may leave the construction of the vinery 
in the hands of the horticultural builder, it is essential that in 
every detail he superintend closely the making of the vinery 
border. And let me here, by way of parenthesis, say on this 
score to you young men, that if any one of you should be placed 
as an assistant where new borders are to be made, do not 
grumble, as I have often heard young men do, at the extra work 
they entail. Remember you are receiving in the work a most 
valuable education, without responsibility as to its success or 
failure, whilst the head gardener is filled with anxiety as to its 
success, 
The bottoms of vinery borders may be said to be of two 
kinds— 
1. Where the natural drainage is good, eg. gravel. In this 
case six inches of broken stones laid over the bottom of the 
border is all that is required. 
2. Where the subsoil is of an impervious or water-logged 
nature. In this case I have made an excellent mixture of one 
part cement to seven parts rough gravelly sand. Mix the whole 
with water, and spread all over the bottom of the border, about 
three inches thick, on top of a layer of ashes already put down. 
This bottom should not be flat. The drain for such a border 
is usually parallel with the outer edge of the outside border, and 
the bottom should slope from the back wall of the vinery to the 
drain. The concrete bottom will be quite hard in three days. 
when nine inches of broken stone may be laid equally all over 
it, and then all the stones covered with fresh-cut sods, the grass- 
side put next the stones. That completes the foundation ot the 
border. 
The depth and width of border is the next consideration. 
Firstly, as to depth. Deep borders are now considered bad 
practice. What is desired for up-to-date grape-growing 1s to 
have the very surface of the border a close net-work of fine 
fibrous roots to feed upon the easily assimilated finely powdered 
artificial manures now specially made for feeding the vine. A 
depth of two-and-a-half feet, exclusive of drainage, 1s therefore 
considered enough for the border when first made. 
