79 
Protection from severe frosts is the only thing that remains, 
and for this purpose we find nothing better than old mats, 
nailed loosely over them. If the weather prove unusually 
severe, a second mat may be applied, or some loose bay or 
straw stuffed inside the single mat. Instead of this, some fig 
growers stick spruce-fir boughs in all directions amongst the 
branches of their Fig trees, which we are told answers exceed- 
ingly well ; indeed, the fronds of the common fern, and also 
straw, have been used with equal success. 
299 The Vine. In offering observations on the general culture 
of the Vine, the reader is referred to page 35 of the Auctarium, 
where some observations concerning soil, &c., will be found, 
which require particular attention. No mode of training or 
pruning can be expected to succeed, if the Vines are planted in 
stagnant soil. A sound bottom therefore, either naturally, or 
rendered so by drainage, must form the foundation of all good 
Vine cultivation. Rich soil is by no means necessary ; indeed, 
we are persuaded that ordinary soil, if fresh, will be found 
sufficient of itself, without the addition of stimulating manures, 
excepting a little, in a decomposed state, to encourage the young 
plant to fill its station ; and the aid of top-dressings in the case 
of old or exhausted trees. Vines luxuriate when their roots 
become firmly imbedded in a sound soil, oftentimes beneath 
pavement, and not unfrequently in the ruins and rubbish of old 
buildings. Somewhat similar to this, too, is their free growth 
amongst the ashes, lava, and scoria, of Mount Vesuvius. These 
circumstances naturally suggest that one-half the volume of the 
border or bed of soil, should be composed of broken bricks, 
mortar, &c.; or in fact, any rubbish which comes to hand in 
pulling down old buildings or walls. 
The Vine is preferred, by all experienced persons, when raised 
from what are termed “eyes”; that is to say, single buds. 
These are cut from young mature wood of established Vines; 
that well ripened in the hothouse may be preferred. Eyes of this 
description, potted in single pots, and placed in an ordinary 
hotbed or plant-house, will make free-growing plants, in the 
course of one se.ason. The nurserymen, however, always keep 
an established stock of young plants on hand, and it is quite as 
economical to select from the stock of a regular Vine cultivator, 
as to devote time to their propagation. 
280. ACCT.VRirM. 
