OF THE VINE. 



39 



It may seem unnecessary to observe, that as 

 the depth of the mould adjoining the front wall 

 of the stove is two feet six inches, and the depth 

 at the South drain three feet six inches, the whole 

 will run at the medium depth of one yard : and 

 as the breadth of the floor, eighteen feet, and the 

 Vines standing at three feet six inches apart, the 

 distance between the rafters,, each plant will occupy, 

 at an average, a space containing seven superficial 

 yards, and, consequently, as many cubic yards of 

 compost. 



Having thus gone through with the preparation 

 of the ground where the soil and situation are both 

 unfavourable, I shall now endeavour to give a few 

 hints that may be useful, when either of these 

 articles are differently and better circumstanced. 



A garden, and consequently the Hot-house, is 

 sometimes so happily situated in regard to soil, 

 that it seems, by nature, adapted to the growth of 

 the Vine d . The best soil, in my apprehension, 



d The following extract from Virgil, on this topic, will be 

 deemed neither unapplicable nor disagreeable to the candid 

 reader : 



The nature of their several soils now see, 

 Their strength, their colour, their fertility ; 

 And first for heath, and barren hilly ground, 

 Where meagre clay and flinty stones abound ; 

 Where the poor soil all succour seems to want ? 

 Yet this suffices the Palladian plant. 

 Undoubted signs of such a soil are found, 

 For here wild olive-shoots o'erspread the ground, 

 And heaps of berries strew the fields around. 

 D 4 



