322 



FRUIT-HOUSES. 



same border. There appears to be some- 

 thing so congenial in the presence of 

 brick or stone walls to the roots of the 

 vine, that they are in general found 

 thickly matted upon them wherever the 

 roots come in immediate contact with 

 them. 



Concrete borders. — A new feature in the 

 construction of vine borders has been 

 now for some years most satisfactorily 

 exemplified at Trentham, and, as a devia- 

 tion so great from formerly established 

 rules, it created at the time no little specu- 

 lation. The borders being formed to the 

 desired depth, 20 inches, and in breadth 

 14 feet, the surface was rendered smooth, 

 and on it was laid a covering of concrete, 

 consisting of eight parts of gravel to one 

 of lime, to the thickness of 2J inches. 

 The border has a fall of 24 inches from 

 the house to the walk, and is drained 

 with stones and brickbats at the bottom 

 to the thickness of about 10 inches. 



All this is exactly agreeable to the 

 usual routine : the concrete covering is 

 the deviation from that rule. In attempt- 

 ing to describe the philosophy of this 

 novel and startling practice, Mr Marnock, 

 in " The United Gardeners' Journal," thus 

 remarks : " A host of arguments rise up 

 before the mind, approving and dis- 

 approving of the general scheme. Pro- 

 bably the first apparently important 

 objection that will present itself is the 

 impossibility of watering, manuring, or 

 otherwise affording any of those artificial 

 helps which, in ordinary cases, cultivators 

 deem it to be both their duty and their 

 privilege to supply; for it ought to be 

 understood that the concrete becomes as 

 hard as a shell of solid stone, neither 

 admitting, upwards nor downwards, per- 

 ceptible moisture of any kind. At first 

 glance this would seem to be an insuper- 

 able objection, rendering it utterly impos- 

 sible that fruit-bearing plants especially 

 could continue to live, far less to flourish. 

 This is, however, but one instance of 

 the many, which shows how little is 

 really known of the true principles of 

 vegetable physiology, and of the laws by 

 which vegetable life is regulated ; for 

 these vines do not only live, but are in 

 the most vigorous health, and bearing 

 better crops of better coloured and better 

 flavoured fruit than those in the other 

 half of the border which is treated in the 



usual way." To this we can confidently 

 subscribe, having seen them two years 

 ago. "Nor have these vines had the 

 least artificial watering of any kind applied 

 to them since the day the concrete was 

 first laid upon the border. Looking at 

 the other side of the question, there are 

 points which might be referred to, as 

 likely to prove advantageous in the 

 case of this concrete ; and the first to 

 which we allude we deem a very impor- 

 tant one, arising from the fact that the 

 concrete acts as a complete preventive of 

 a common evil — we mean the all but 

 irresistible temptation to dig and crop 

 vine borders. In the next place— and it 

 is this wherein consists its chief recom- 

 mendation — namely, the preservation of 

 the whole of the roots near the surface, 

 and within the influence of warmth from 

 sun and air. The indurated smooth shell 

 of concrete, spread over the surface of the 

 border, would absorb a greater quantity 

 of heat than the ordinary surface of dug 

 and loose earth — -just as a smooth flag- 

 stone feels, and really is, hotter under 

 the influence of sun heat than the less 

 smooth surface of ordinary earth. Pre- 

 suming on what is a common result, that 

 wherever the roots of plants, no matter 

 of what kind, meet with the sides of walls 

 — the brick or stone work of drains where 

 there are partial cavities, filled, of course, 

 in such situations, with moist air— there 

 the roots of all plants become more vigor- 

 ous than in any other situation whatever; 

 and this is just the nature of the situation 

 in which the roots of the vines are placed 

 immediately under the concrete, and be- 

 tween the latter and the earth forming 

 the border ; and we have no doubt that, 

 were the concrete removed, the roots of 

 the vines would be found to be thickly 

 matted. The concrete being almost im- 

 pervious, necessarily prevents rapid ex- 

 halation, by which the border earth can- 

 not be deprived of its moisture. The 

 moisture by which the border is kept 

 constantly supplied, is dependent upon a 

 principle which is neither sufficiently 

 known nor so fully valued as it deserves 

 — we mean capillary attraction, and the 

 tendency of moisture to rise to the earth. 

 Upon this principle, it is not difficult to 

 understand why there should be no incon- 

 venience arising from the impossibility 

 of giving water at the surface of the 



