72 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 27, 1853. 



coated with newly-washed material, ag sea and river gravel, and 

 such like. 



Foundation foe A Wale. — Whatever may be the surfacing 

 material, it often happens that it is not in sufficient abundance 

 to allow the whole depth required to make a walk firm and dry 

 to be all made of one kind : consequently, a common article is 

 used in the bottom, and not unfrequently the bottom of a walk 

 becomes a useful receptacle for many things that are unfit for 

 anywhere else — broken crockery, glasB bottles, clinkers, brick- 

 bats, stone, and mortar rubbish, &c, that are useless elsewhere. 

 Clinkers and mortar rubbish, or brickbats with mortar adhering 

 to them, are about the best bottoming for a walk, being so dis- 

 tasteful to worms, while they allow the drainage to pass freely 

 through. I cannot say I admire chalk so much, although it is 

 often used. Mixed, however, with other things it will be useful ; 

 but the materials of the locality will, in general, determine this 

 matter. 



Bottom or Foundation. — Unimportant as this may seem 

 to many, I am convinced there is no point in walk-making of so 

 much consequence in some places ; I, therefore, make no apology 

 for placing the subject in its proper light, which is best done by 

 detailing the practice I have adopted. 



Being entrusted with the formation of a carriage road and 

 large court entrance, which, as is often the case, was on the 

 dampest side of the house, and the subsoil as stiff and impene- 

 trable a clay as could well be supposed, I did not excavate and 

 remove so much of it as many might have done, but carefully re- 

 moved a part, leaving the bottom in a sort of ridge-and-furrow 

 plan. The furrows were about 6 feet apart, and the inclination 

 from the ridge 2 or 3 inches, the ridge itself not being more 

 than 4 inches from what was intended to be the surface of the road ; 

 eo that only 4 inches of metal were wanted on that part, while 

 on the furrow it was 6 or 7 inches, and in the furrow itself 

 a clean-cut drain was made, in which ordinary two-inch drain- 

 pipes were placed. These were not deep, excepting at one end, 

 to which it was necessary to convey the water. There the tops of 

 the pipes might be a foot deep, perhaps, while at the other end they 

 were close to the surface of the furrow. The ridges were pared 

 smooth and true to shape, and all the material carted away, 

 including that from the drains ; and the whole was covered over 

 with stoneB larger than ordinary road stones, the drains being 

 filled with the same. Care was taken not to disturb the incline 

 of ridge-and-furrow system into which the whole was cut ; no 

 carting over it was allowed until it was covered with stone. 

 A finer description of stone followed, and finally the top-dress- 

 ing, and the whole acted very satisfactorily. The water which 

 fell on the top, or what might be conveyed thither, for the 

 place was low, passed quickly through the stratum of the road, 

 and the inclination of the smooth clayey foundation carried it 

 into the furrows, whence it was conveyed away by the drains 

 which all united at their lower end. A walk may be formed on 

 the same principle, the foundation declining to the centre, along 

 which there might be a drain as described above ; or, if the 

 walk be wide, there might be two drains, as I have on more 

 than one occasion made. This precaution, however, is only 

 necessary on those tenacious clays which retain all the water 

 that falls on them. When the ground is of a contrary descrip- 

 tion this plan of preparing the foundation surface is not necessary, 

 and for walks a less depth of material will do. The only 

 difficulty to guard against in shallow work is worms finding 

 their way through and disfiguring the walk. As a preventive 

 therefore, use mortar and lime rubbish, cinder or clinker rubbish 

 of any kinds noxious to worms, and, in default of all these use 

 stone or chalk more abundantly ; bearing in mind at all times 

 that, although a smooth and level surface is wanted in walks at 

 all times, they ought nevertheless to be porous, and by no means 

 ought water to stand long on the surface of a walk, neilher 

 ought it to remain below, or it will always be damp, and moss 

 and dirt will be engendered. 



Concluding Remabks.' — The ordinary routine of frequently 

 rolling walks is so often alluded to in the weekly instructions 

 given in this Journal as not to require any further notice here. 

 Walks, however, require to be broken-up betimes, in order to 

 destroy the moss or discoloration that comes on their surface; 

 this is best done in winter, the surface gravel only being broken-up 

 with a pickaxe, or, it may be, a strong fork. This brings some 

 fresh gravel to the top, and, being carefully levelled, it again 

 forms as good a walk as ever. A much more difficult matter 

 is to keep the weeds down. Handweeding is strongly advocated 

 by many in preference to salt, as the latter undoubtedly en- 



courages damp more or less ; but where there are large breadths 

 to do, I confess not knowing anything so expeditious. On 

 this subject, however, I expect some one will give us an article 

 at some early time, detailing the results of a chemical substance 

 cheap, efficacious, and not causing the damp complained of in 

 salt. In Devonshire and Cornwall I have seen a substance like 

 green sand that is found in the mines, spread over a paved 

 yard to kill the weeds, and it effectually did so. I think it par- 

 took largely of copperas, or some mineral poison of a like kind. 

 I have also seen a refuse of arsenic used in a similar way ; the 

 latter however iB, perhaps, as objectionable as salt. I would, 

 therefore, invite others to give us their experience in this matter ; 

 and as the subject of walks has extended to greater length than 

 I intended, that on roads must be deferred till another time. 



J. Robson. 



GEAPE-GEOWING IN AMEEICA. 



I find, by a perusal of The Journal of Horticulture, that- 

 considerable attention has of late been paid in Britain to some 

 of the phases of Grape-growing, and some valuable opinions 

 have been elicited concerning the different points of merit to be 

 considered in judging a bunch or dish of Grapes produced at an 

 exhibition, from all which I trust some world-wide standard of 

 excellence will be erected, contributing to assist judges in im- 

 partial decisions and to the satisfaction of exhibitors. 



As I have derived much valuable information from these 

 pages, I make bold to submit to your readers two experiments I 

 have made lately with the Grape Tine, always bearing in mind 

 the difference of climate, soil, &c, between Britain and America. 



In March of last year I renewed the outside border of an 

 established house of Grapes here, cutting-off all the roots right 

 up to within 2 feet of the Vines, which are planted inside, but 

 derive very little support from the inside border. I raised the 

 bottom of the outside border 18 inches, and cut a fine crop ®f 

 Grapes from the Vines in August and September last. The 

 leaves flagged a little during some of our scorching days in May; 

 but by attending closely to ventilation and keeping up an abun- 

 dant supply of moisture in the house I escaped without a 

 scorched leaf. 



This I had precedent for, having seen Mr. Fleming do the 

 same when under him at Trentham, but with this difference — 

 Mr. Fleming renewed his border before the Vines were quite 

 rested in the autumn, thus giviDg the roots a hold during winter 

 ready for a start in spring ; the better way no doubt, but as I 

 only took charge here in the preceding October I was prevented 

 from strictly adhering to precedent. 



Being much encouraged by success in this instance, I deter- 

 mined to try if I could not also produce new Grapes on New 

 Year's-day ; so, having cleared one house of Grapes in the third 

 week of June, I pruned and started it in the first week of July, 

 the temperature at the time often ranging up to 98° or 100° in 

 the shade. The Vines bled very little, and broke very regularly. 

 There were thirteen rods of Black Hamburgh and two rods of 

 Muscat of Alexandria in the house. I soon found there would 

 be no difficulty in ripening them by the time specified, as our 

 fine genial fall, or Indian summer, brought them olong very 

 rapidly, and as the cold weather set in I, of course, took care to 

 place ample protection on the outside border ; for by the middle 

 of December we had the thermometer down nearly to zero. 



The Hamburghs bore a very fair crop, and are now (New 

 Year's-day) quite plump in the berry, and as black as sloes, the 

 leaves being as green and fresh as they were three months ago,. 

 I have furnished both Hamburghs and Muscats for Mr. Hoyt's 

 table to-day, this being the grand reception-day in New York. 



Strange to say in this dry climate mildew is a great pest to 

 Vines, and has to be very carefully guarded against. I find strew- 

 ing a little fresh guano occasionally in the house to be a good 

 preventive. — David Foulis, Gardener to JSdwin Soyt, Esq., 

 Astoria, Long Island, New York. 



A PEW DATS IN IRELAND. 



■WOODSTOCK. 



This charming, romantic, and richly picturesque demesne of 

 the Right Hon. W. F. Tighe and the Lady Louisa Tighe, is 

 situated about ninety miles from Dublin, seven miles from 

 Thomastown station on the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway, 

 and close to the pretty village of Innistioge. In the days before 



