72 THE CULTURE OF THE GEAPE. 



same period, and not turned, as before ; an eighth part, 

 scrapings of the highways formed from limestone, or 

 other hard material ; and the other eighth part, half-de- 

 composed horse or cow dung. I am not an advocate for 

 turning over and mixing the materials promiscuously to- 

 gether, as, by often turning, the compost becomes too 

 solid, losing a great portion of its fertilizing property by 

 such repeated intermixture ; and, unless it be of a very 

 sandy, loose texture, the border will, in a few years, be- 

 come impervious both to water and to atmospheric air, 

 which are of incalculable benefit to the growth of the 

 vine. I would I'ecommend the autumn, if the weather 

 be dry, to prepare to fill in your border. A month pre- 

 vious to filling your border, provide a qiiantity of car- 

 rion, cattle dying by accident, disease, &c., which, I am 

 sorry to say, has, of late years, been too common an oc- 

 currence. If you have collected it sometime beforehand, 

 have it cut into small j)ieces and laid up in soil, till the 

 time of using. It emits a very nauseous effluvium, but 

 this must be borne, for this is the pabulum to produce 

 the nectar of Bacchus. "When all is ready, and the wea- 

 ther favorable, proceed at one end of your border, wheel- 

 ing in and mixing the materials in proportion as they 

 stand to each other in my previous directions, on no ac- 

 count breaking the materials in mixing, but turn thorn 

 in as rough as possible, adding one good-sized horse or 

 cow carcass to every ten or twelve square yards, using 

 caution, and not bringing it to the surface of the border 

 within one foot, as its assistance is not wanted the first 

 year. What I have here recommended, is my practice 

 adopted at this place, the result of which, I dare pre- 



