EXPERIMENTS WITH VINES. 



69 



floor of the large vinery previously described. In the 

 bottoms of the hampers I laid thin turfs, with the grass 

 sides down. On this I placed nice, sharp, but not very 

 rich soil, and in March shook oat of their pots the 

 required number of year-old Muscat vines, cut back to 

 about ten eyes some months previously, placed the stem 

 near one side of the hamper, and spread out the roots 

 like the fingers of an extended hand, covering up with 

 the same sort of soil, and finishing with a good water- 

 ing, placing a hamper against each of the pillars and 

 training the young rods up the pillars. As this large 

 house was only kept a little closer than a greenhouse, 

 the vines made fine short-jointed canes. By the latter 

 end of June we had finished cutting the grapes on the 

 black Hamburgs that the vines in the hampers were 

 destined to replace, when I removed them, and on the 

 1st of July had the border made up to the extent of 

 9 feet in width along the front of the house. Seats 

 were made in the soil of the border for the hampers, 

 whose bottoms were rotten by this time. The planks 

 on which they were set enabled us, however, to move 

 them in safety. The young canes were introduced 

 through the front wall as the old ones had been. About 

 three joints of the previous year's wood were laid in the 

 soil, after having an incision made in it below each 

 joint. (The danger to be apprehended from the attacks 

 of fungi would now lead me to omit the incisions, 

 especially where bottom -heat is to be applied.) The 

 hampers were then cut away and removed, leaving the 

 great round flat ball full of fine young roots, to be 

 covered over with 4 inches of soil. The young canes 

 were from 12 to 14 feet long, two from each plant, 

 when planted. They did not receive the slightest 

 check to their growth, but made splendid canes to 



