88 MANURES FOR FRUIT TREES 



the currant-vine, but all have failed, and to-day, 

 exactly as centuries ago, all the civilised world 

 looks to Greece for currants. Strong sunshine, 

 tempered with mountain air and sea breezes, a 

 soil that is light, dry, and loamy — these are the 

 essentials to currant-vine culture. Give such con- 

 ditions, and grant, further, that the tract of country 

 destined for the currant vineyard is on the gently 

 undulating slopes of the hills that stretch eastward 

 from the Gulf of Patras to the Gulf of Corinth, and 

 the currant-vine, after six or seven years' careful 

 culture, will be at its best. 



Lord Byron, the poet, called the currant " an 

 ideal food, which averts the necessity of medicine." 



In this country, after the grapes have been 

 removed from the vines, and the vines pruned, the 

 greenhouse should be washed, thoroughly cleansed 

 and painted. The soil should be dug right down 

 to the roots, a top-dressing of fresh loamy soil (in 

 which has been mixed a proper vine manure^) 

 applied, and the surface should be mulched with 

 manure or moss-litter. In the words of Cicero,^ 

 " after the vines have undergone this autumnal 

 dressing they push forth in spring from the joints 



1 Such as With's " Vine Manure." 



2 Melmoth's translation of Cicero's essay on " Cato ; or an 

 Essay on Old Age." 



