OF THE VINE. 



41 



When either a Pine and Vine Stove, or a Vinery, 

 are intended to be made, and the soil happens to 

 be such as has been described, or similar to it, and 

 especially if the bottom be a dry bed of strong 

 gravel, a kind of slate stone, or rocky, an artificial 

 floor in either case will be unnecessary, since the 

 pine pits need not then be sunk below the natural 

 soil, as in the common method, but raised above 

 it. The ground on the outside of the building 

 must afterwards be brought up to a convenient 

 level, and it will then form a kind of terras or 

 bastion. By this means the roots of the Vine will 

 be benefited in a double respect, both by an ad- 

 ditional soil, and by having the natural one for its 

 bottom or floor. 



I do not in all cases recommend the various 

 proportions exactly, for making the foregoing 

 compost, but would advise, nevertheless, that each 

 be varied in a greater or less degree, according to 

 its quality. Nay, it sometimes may be found 

 necessary to substitute a soil still different from 

 either of the foregoing. As when, for instance, 

 a garden soil happens to be rich, strong, and in- 

 clinable to clay, and when a sandy loam cannot 

 conveniently, be had ; for in such a case, common 

 sand, or rather the reduced swarth or turf from a 

 sandy soil, although poor in its nature, will not 

 only correct, but greatly improve it, by opening 

 its pores, and rendering it light, and thereby making 

 the passage more easy for the progress of the roots 

 of the Vine. It appears a contradiction in terms, 



