Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 311 



14. Account of a Method of cultivating the Grape Vine. By Mr. 

 Ninian Niven. 

 The method is to grow and fruit the plants in pots, the pots 

 plunged in a bed of leaves or tan in a flued pit, and the shoots 

 trained on a trellis under the roof. During the first and 

 second year a crop of melons may be obtained on the leaves 

 or tan. After the vines have been fruited two or three 

 years, they may be thrown away, and their place supplied by 

 young plants, which will bear larger bunches and berries. The 

 great advantage of this plan is its economy ; and time may be 

 also said to be gained by the production of a crop of melons 

 the first year. If leaves are used instead of tan, the vines 

 may be turned out of the pots at each end of the pit, and their 

 shoots led along the trellis to the ends opposite. 



15. On mulching and 'watering Fruit Tree Borders. By Mr. James 

 Smith, Gardener at Hopetoun House. 

 Mr. Smith recommends what, we think, is in general too 

 little attended to, " very moderate cropping of fruit tree 

 borders, and keeping the vegetables at some distance from the 

 wall." After the wall trees at Hopetoun House have received 

 their winter dressing, the borders are digged over, and laid up 

 in a rough state, so as to retain the moisture which falls during 

 winter. Planks for walking on are laid along the bottom of 

 the wall, and well-rotted hot-bed dung is spread on the border, 

 about four inches thick, beginning at the base of the wall, and 

 extending outwards about eight feet. " This mulching re- 

 mains till the dry weather of summer is past, when it is 

 removed, and the surface of the ground is hoed and raked 

 smooth, to reflect the rays of the sun, and to promote the 

 maturity of the fruit, and the ripening of the flower buds of 

 the following season." 



" The principal use of mulching is the prevention or dimi- 

 nution of evaporation. The moisture upon which fruit trees, 

 in dry years, subsist, is solely the produce of the winter and 

 spring rain, as must be known to every one who has observed 

 to how small a depth the summer showers penetrate exposed 

 and hardened soils. The case is even worse where there are 

 crops of vegetables, as they extract the sap which is in the 

 ground, and disperse the slight rains before they reach the 

 earth. I have seen a fruit-border so exhausted and parched, 

 by a crop of early peas or cauliflower, as to be scarcely capa- 

 ble of supporting any thing before the damps of autumn had 

 restored it to somewhat of its proper tone. It is evident, that 

 whatever prevents an excessive escape of moisture by evapo- 

 ration, must prove very beneficial." 



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