THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 259 



I was son-j at the time I made them, that it was not in 

 my power to avail myself of that pabulum to produce the 

 nectar of Bacchus. All the carrion, of any description, 

 they contain, would not have made one load for a Shet- 

 land pony, and most of that was reduced, in order that it 

 might give out immediately nutritious food to the vines, 

 young as they were when planted, had it been placed 

 within their reach ; but it was not. In notices to corre- 

 spondents, it has been stated that my method of preparing 

 borders wias good, but too much azotised.* The vine 

 borders at Bishop's Stortford, are stated to be gorged 

 with manure and fleshings of skinners and tanners, and 

 no caution is given regarding the too free use of azotised 

 manure, which is the basis of good cultivation. An 

 immoderate use of such azotised manures, as a thorough 

 mixture through the soil, will be far more likely to prove 

 poisonous to vines in their infant state, and far more 

 injurious than anything I have yet offered to the public 

 as essential to the good culture of the vine. But if I 

 was not able to add carrion, except in a vei'y limited 

 degree, at the time my borders were made, I may men- 

 tion that I fell in with a goodlj' lot last winter, part of 

 which has been added as a toi^-dressing this autumn, 

 and I intend in future to apply it to that purpose. I 

 am so cautious that the least particle should not be 

 wasted, that I hoard it up as a miser would his gold. I 

 hope the matter is here set at rest as regards carrion 

 poisoning vines. ' On more recent inquiry,' says Mr. 



* Azot© or nitrogen ; — this gas exists in ail animal substances, and in 

 such plants as putrefy with an animal odor, such as cabbage and mushroom 



