ON SOME EXPERIMENTS IN THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE. 
217 
Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the hollow back wall which 
shows the vacuity (g), the ventilators (ft), the pigeon hole 
openings to the front and back (i, i), and a portion of the 
ridge and furrow roof (k). The vacuity commences below 
the level of the ventilators, in order to give capacity for a 
greater volume of air than can pass through the ventilators 
at one time. 
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of a part of the roof, and 
elevation of the back wall. This figure shows the ventilators 
{1,1), with the shutters (m, m), put down to their full extent. 
There is a moulded frame placed round the openings of these 
ventilators, with a groove in it for the shutters to slide up 
and down. The line by which the shutters are moved is 
attached to the centre of the top, and passes over a pulley 
fixed to the top of the moulded frame, and nicely balanced 
by a leaden weight, so that the shutters will remain station- 
ary at any height desired to regulate the ventilation. 
The elevation of the wall above the roof, shows the manner in which the air is 
admitted by the pigeon holes to the vacuity ; and the north side of the wall should be per- 
forated in the same way above the roof, taking care that the openings on one side are 
opposite the solid brick walls on the other, to prevent a direct draught through. The 
openings on the north side must take the same form of outline as those on the south ; 
that is, there must be no opening behind, opposite the inside of the house in front. 
This system of ventilation is the best at present known, and may be applied to all 
kinds of forcing houses on the ridge and furrow principle, whether there are upright lights 
in front or not. 
ON SOME EXPERIMENTS IN THE CULTIVATION OF THE VINE. 
By William Tillery. 
There have been so many treatises and articles in periodicals on the cultivation of the vine 
lately, that little now can be added on the subject, yet w r e hear a deal of the bad colouring 
of the Hambro’, the difficulty of setting some of the shy sorts, and the crackling and spotting 
of the thin-skinned varieties, so that there is still something to be learnt in the matter. 
The following remarks on some of the above difficulties are the result of experiments, tried 
at Welbeck within the last three years, and may be of some interest and use to some of the 
readers of the “ Magazine of Gardening and Botany,” who have not the means or time to 
experimentise for themselves. As the flavour of grapes depends principally on the soil they 
grow in, I planted some large Hambro ’s in 1847, in a chamber of the border, to try the effects 
of different kinds of manure on the flavour and colouring of the fruit. The first compart- 
ment was formed principally of turf from a limestone rock, mixed with charcoal dust; in this 
the grapes coloured well and were fine in flavour, but had not very large bunches or berries. 
The second compartment was formed of half-rotten manure and charcoal ; the fruit in this 
were bad-coloured, and the juices watery and slightly acid ; another peculiarity was that the 
stones in the berries never hardened. The third compartment was filled with soil in which 
carrion and slaughter-house garbage had rotted in. Here the berries and bunches were 
large, but of a red colour, and the flavour of a peculiar offensive kind. The fourth com- 
partment was filled with turfy loam from an old pasture, and mixed with leaf-mould : lime- 
rubbish containing brickbats and burnt clay formed the subsoil on the top of the drainage ; 
in this compartment the bunches were fine, some of the berries measuring 3J inches in 
circumference and well coloured. In all the four compartments the roots were confined, 
and had to feed on the soil contained in them ; it will be seen by the above that vine 
borders may be made too rich with azotised substances, and that although large plethoric 
berries may be obtained, they will be worthless as far as regards colour and flavour. When 
Mr. Dowding was gardener to the late Sir Simon Clarke, of Oakhill, near Barnet, he made 
his vine borders from the turfy sward of an old pasture field, the sods were ridged up in the 
winter and frequently turned in frosty weather, when sheep were folded on them ; this 
compost was mixed with road scrapings of a flinty nature ; perfect drainage was another 
feature of his system, and the Black Hambro ’s he grew and exhibited at the Chiswick 
shows have never been surpassed yet, some of the bunches weighing from 6 to 8 lbs. After 
making a good border and having healthy young vines raised from eyes planted, Mr. Dowding 
always avoided the rock that many cultivators split on, namely over-bearing his vines when 
VOL. I. NO. VII. F F 
