THE GRAPE VINE. I05 



for unless the borders are in superexcellent order, and 

 the roots all thoroughly ripened, a great quantity of the 

 small fibry roots which are made in summer die off 

 through excessive moisture, and this tells very much 

 against the vines when they start into growth. I have 

 first laid on the surface of the borders a layer of fresh 

 leaves, and then thatched it with wheaten straw. This 

 incurs much labour and litter. Wooden shutters are 

 much better, and corrugated iron ones better still, and 

 in the long-run the cheapest, from their durability. The 

 water which runs off these coverings at the front of the 

 border should be conducted by open gutters into some 

 drain, so that it does not keep the ground in front of 

 the border, where there are generally a mass of roots, 

 damp. 



Vine-borders should never be allowed to crack in the 

 heat of summer, and to this end it is always best to 

 mulch them with a coating of manure, which conserves 

 the moisture in the border and feeds the roots. All 

 cropping of the borders with vegetables or flowers is an 

 evil, and should never be practised. 



There is much difference of opinion as to whether, 

 in the case of early-forced vines, applying a bed of 

 fermenting material all over the surface of the outside 

 border a short time before forcing commences, is any 

 more effective — in the absence of any means of heating 

 from below — than simply to cover the border to 

 a considerable depth early in autumn with some dry 

 material, to conserve the heat which exists in the soil at 

 that time. I once tested a border that had been covered up 

 early in autumn with 1 foot of leaves and then thatched 

 with straw; and found, on plunging a thermometer 

 in the soil to the depth of 15 inches, that in sixteen 



