280 THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 



at Eshton, that the vines there, now that they have he- 

 come seven or eight years old, only bear bunches a-verag- 

 ing one pound. So that the carrion-fed vines are not im- 

 provf^d by -age ; and thei.r present state is, to our minds, 

 anything rather than ' conclusive as to the advantages 

 to be derived from using that substance.' 



" Mr. Roberts states that some very fine grapes, seen 

 by him in Cheshire, had acquired their condition by 

 being top-dressed in the manner recommended by him. 

 We find that manner explained in his Treatise, to be 'a 

 light top-dressing of ground bones, loamy soil,, rotten 

 manure, and decayed carrion, covering the whole with 

 an inch or two of half-rotten stable manure to prevent 

 evaporation,' — a good appliance, no doubt. But we are 

 at a loss to know what this has really to do with the 

 question at issue. The use of a little horse- flesh, in a 

 state of decay, is surely not the same thing as filling a 

 border with lumps of putrid flesh. ' Adding one good- 

 sized horse or cow carcass to every ten or twelve yards,' 

 (Treatise,) and we certainly should not be inclined to ap- 

 ply to the recommendation Mr. Roberts's term, cautious. 

 We own that to us the advice seems rather the reverse. 

 But we half suspect that, after all the controversy, our 

 difference in opinion from our very clever correspondent 

 turns, like many other dififerences, npon the meaning ot 

 a word. What is really meant by carrion ? We under- 

 stand it to be putrid flesh in the early stage of decompo- 

 sition, emitting putrid effluvia not less dangerous to man 

 and plants than it is oifensive and disgusting. These 

 early products of animal decay, be they what they may, 

 are given off in such abundance for a certain time, vary- 



