16 



COMPOSTS SUITABLE FOR VINES. 



supposing it to be of the medium quality I have de- 

 scribed, and others applicable to cases where either sand 

 or clay may be in excess. It may not be improper that 

 I should remark here, that I have known fine vineries 

 erected, and every preparation made calculated to pro- 

 duce good crops of grapes, till the question of going into 

 the park for the proper description of loam had to be 

 mooted, when the proprietor very naturally refused to 

 allow the breaking-up of any of his old pasture, and 

 the gardener had to have recourse to unsuitable soil, 

 probably out of a plantation, where in every morsel of 

 decaying wood there were the spores of fungi that were 

 certain one day to destroy the vigour of his vines, and 

 in many cases kill them altogether.'"' This is a difficulty 

 that, with proper explanation to a reasonable employer, 

 might be removed, and no harm done to the sheep or 

 deer pasture. Say that in some spot most out of view 

 and the soil suitable, the necessary quantity of turf was 

 cut, and thrown with the grass side downwards, there 

 to lie till the first dry frosty day, when it should be 

 carted and stacked while in a frozen state. It is of 

 much importance that soil for a vine border should be 

 taken during sharp frost, which drives the wire- worm 

 to a depth the spade does not reach, and the peats are 

 left in the field. For every cart-load brought out of 

 the park, let a load of old rich garden-soil be laid down 

 in its stead, be properly levelled, sown with a good cast 

 of lawn-grass seeds and white clover, raked in, and 

 have a roller run over it. If cattle are in the park at 

 the time, a sheep-net can be run round it till it is green, 



* June 22, 1867. — A gentleman has just sent me a portion of the soil from 

 the borders of four new vineries he has erected and planted this spring. It 

 was taken from a turfy bank on which an old hedge grew, and I find it one 

 mass of fungi, in such a state that it is impossible a vine or any other plant 

 can thrive in it — caused, no doubt, by the decaying roots of the old hedge. 



