240 
CONTEMPORARY WRITINGS. 
ate of potash, will restore annually a large 
proportion of the potash which may have dis- 
appeared from the trench. Hitherto the suc- 
cess of a vintage depended, ceteris paribus, 
in a great measure on the influence of the 
atmosphere. Thus, suppose a vine stock 
required ten parts of potash to he enahled to 
hear fruit, if the action of heat and rain on 
the stones and earth in a state of decomposi- 
tion could only furnish five, the vintage would 
he had. This danger will be avoided by the 
ahove system of culture, in which the vine 
must always have suitable food ; but it is not 
to be forgotten that, although I promise the 
grape growers who shall follow the above plan 
an abundance of produce, I can by no means 
ensure the quality of that produce, for quality 
must always depend on the temperature." 
Vine Culture. — A very remarkable result 
in the culture of vines has been observed 
during the early part of the present year, in 
the garden of Mr. Wilmot, of Isleworth. We 
find the following statement of the general 
facts in the Gardeners' Ckronide : — " In July, 
1846, Mr. Wilmot planted in the footpath, at 
the back of some pine-pits, a number of young 
black Hamburgh vines, and introduced them 
into the houses by knocking a brick out of 
the back wall next the ground. These vines, 
planted in the footpath, made of materials to 
walk upon, on the north side of a pine stove, 
grew the first year twenty feet long. On the 
16th of January of the present year a leaf 
from one of them, measuring twenty-one inches 
the one way, and eighteen inches the other, 
was exhibited to the Horticultural Society, 
and on the 6th of March a dish of ripe grapes 
from a part of these vines obtained a Silver 
Knightian Medal. The bunches were small, 
as all Mr. Wilmot's are, heavy bunches of 
grapes not answering the purpose of growers 
for mai'ket ; but they were well swelled, 
covered with bloom, and perfectly well 
coloured. When the vines were planted, 
holes were made in the footpath with a pick- 
axe, and about a couple of quarts of soil in 
which pine-apples had been grown was added 
to each hole, the crocks having been first 
sifted out. This was done for the purpose of 
forming a bed in which the young roots might 
lie, the soil of the footpath being too rough 
and coarse for them. As to the footpath 
itself, in order that there might be no mistake 
upon that point, we have examined it, and we 
can state that the soil of which it is composed 
becomes, when dry, as hard as the high road. 
This is owing to the presence of a large quan- 
tity of red brick earth, of which Mr. Wilmot's 
market garden naturally consisted ; with this 
is mixed a large quantity of pounded clinkers 
from the stoke-holes where coke or coal are 
burnt, some loam, and a quantity of the ordi- 
nary well tilled soil of the garden. Next the 
walk where the vines grow, whose leaves 
have been just described, there is, within four 
feet, the trench of a Macphail pit filled with 
long litter, for heating a pine bed. The other 
footpath, where similar vines are growing, is 
a mere space lying between two pine houses. 
In both cases these borders or footpaths are, 
as has been already stated, on the north side 
of the wall of the pine house, and can receive 
no direct heat from the sun, even in summer. 
To what cause, then, may we assign this ex- 
traordinary growth, so wholly unexpected by 
everybody ? It cannot be to the marvellous 
richness of soil, that is evident. It cannot be 
to high temperature ; for although the foot- 
path in one case was on the edge of a trench 
for dung, yet Mr. Wilmot states that that 
trench was not worked till long after the 
vines had made their first growth. But 
although a very high temperature of the soil 
can hardly be taken as the cause, we are by 
no means sure that temperature may not have 
something to do with this unusual growth. 
The vines were planted in July ; and in gar- 
dens so much worked, and so much enclosed, 
and so traversed by hothouses in all direc- 
tions as Mr. Wilmot's is, the heat of the soil 
may have been higher than is imagined, even 
although the sun could not directly shine 
upon it. But there was another cause in 
operation. The pine-houses in question should 
rather be called pits ; for they are sunk from 
two to three feet below the level of the soil ; 
being almost constantly heated by hot water 
pipes, the warm air of the pit must commu- 
nicate some part of its heat to the surround- 
ing soil — to what extent we have no means of 
ascertaining. The soil too is by no means 
poor ; the path in which grew the vines with 
large leaves must be greatly enriched with 
the soakage from the Macphail pits ; and 
although it becomes as hard as a brick, it is 
not, therefore, compact ; on the contrary, the 
fragments of clinkers maintain its porosity 
effectually, and permit a ready passage to any 
heat that may be communicated to it. These 
observations are intentionally limited to the 
first year's growth ; that of a later period can 
hardly be made the subject of speculation ; 
for it is impossible to say where the roots of 
the vines in question may now be. In what- 
ever way the point is regarded, it is highly 
curious and instructive. 
