BEST SOIL FOR VINES. 145 



The two Vines in question both grow on shallow rich soils, the one at 

 Cumberland Lodge being a light sandy loam resting on the gravel and 

 clay of the London basin, while at Hampton Court it is a finely divided 

 alluvial soil resting on gravel, the subsoil in both cases being dry and 

 compactr Such being the case, it matters little what the material con- 

 sists of, for a clay bottom may be equally good with a gravel one if 

 drained naturally by fissures, or other causes. In such situations the 

 Vine finds all the elements it requires for its growth. The fertilising 

 particles of matter are equally distributed through the soil. There is no 

 disposition in any portion of such soils to run together, or to become sour ; 

 every facility is afibrded the roota to permeate the earth, while the finely 

 divided state of the various ingredients composing them (and their 

 perfect admixture) favours the production of those minute fibrous roots 

 (never found on strong heavy soils) which are so essential an element of 

 success in Grape growing. Here, then, is all the Vine requires to 

 produce good and abundant crops, and to form for itself a constitution 

 enabling it to supply generations with its generous produce. I am not 

 aware of any pecxdiarity in the loams resting on the London clay (such 

 are, however, much the best for all descriptions of potting) except it be 

 in the finely divided state of the parts composing them; and the presence 

 of rich calcareous matter ; but I have seen the Vines growing on similar 

 soils in Hampshire with much freedom, and ripening out of doors fruit 

 in good perfection. Again, on the southern slopes of the hills near 

 Bath the Vine grows vigorously in the natural soU, though the oolite 

 rocks on which the surface soU rests is much colder than either a 

 gravelly or a well-drained clay one. Many of these soils are rich in 

 potash, from being more or less mixed with portions of the fiUler's-eaith 

 beds. The best natural soils for the Vine are those formed by the 

 decomposition of voleanid rooks, such being invariably of a dry, porous 

 quality, and are rich in inorganic matter. Such being the nature of 

 the soils on which the Vine thrives in the greatest perfection, it would 

 be supposed that in the formation of borders expressly for its growth, 

 some approximation would be made towards them by making the 

 borders for the most part, if not all, of the same constituents ; or in 

 other words, forming " a warm, light, dry, shallow soil." In place of 

 this, however, much labour and expense have been incurred in making 

 borders, in which the Vine refuses to thrive at all. .What I may term 

 artificial Vine borders are generally composed of various ingredients, of 

 which loam, dung, and some dry material, as brickbats, mortar, rubbish, 

 &c., may be considered as the principal. To these some add carrion, or 

 other similar substances. Now we will suppose these materials to be 



two thcusand terge bimclies of magnificent Gfrapes, filled a house one Enndred and 

 thirty-eight feet long and sixteen feet wide, and had a stem two feet nine inches in 

 circumference. The border in which it grows is wctrm, light, dry, &ti& shaXUm. 



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