LATE -KEEPING GRAPES. 



231 



properly ripened, and is almost certain to result in failure. We 

 are content now, if we add anything to the border when it is first 

 made, to put a moderate quantity of crushed bones, and then, 

 subsequently, when the demands become greater or there are 

 appearances of the soil being partially exhausted, to give a top- 

 dressing of old decayed manure or of Thompson's manure, which 

 has done good service on many occasions. When the vines are 

 carrying a heavy swelling crop, if the borders are watered 

 alternately with well-diluted and warmed liquid manure, such as 

 can be had from stable-tanks, it gives more immediate assistance 

 and is preferable to overloading the soil with solid manurial 

 substances that are apt to cause sourness or rank growth. Deep 

 borders are not desirable, as inducing the roots to go down 

 out of the reach of sun, heat, and air. Very shallow ones are 

 also objectionable, because they have not sufficient body to sup- 

 port the vigorous growth of the vine. As a guide, we may take 

 a depth of two feet as a minimum and three feet as a maximum, 

 the " happy medium " being preferable in this as in most other 

 cases. 



Planting, &c. — It is not intended to give details of planting, 

 but simply to suggest that whether the vines are home-raised or 

 purchased, freely developed and thoroughly ripened canes should 

 be selected, and stunted or starved, or excessively luxuriant but 

 unripened plants avoided. The stem is both a channel and a 

 storehouse for nourishment, and it performs its functions far 

 more satisfactorily through the whole of the life of the plant if 

 it is not cramped in its earlier stages. One matter which has 

 special reference to our subject must not be overlooked, and that 

 is the distance from the glass at which the training wires are 

 placed. It is a very common mistake to train vines too near the 

 glass ; the young growths become crowded and the leaves forced 

 up to the glass until they are almost useless, and it is not sur- 

 prising they are scorched or injured in other ways. So far as 

 may be without crowding, the more good leaves the vines carry 

 the better are late Grapes likely to finish and keep. Roof-crowd- 

 ing is, therefore, an evil to be avoided as much as possible by 

 fixing the wires two feet, or even farther, from the glass. The 

 same remarks apply to the distance the vines are planted apart, 

 but they are especially applicable to Muscat of Alexandria, 

 which can scarcely have too much space allotted to it to ensure 



