October 4, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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Apple Congress at Chiswick (4th to 18th). 
20tii Sunday after Trinity. 
Royal Horticultural Society ; Fruit and Floral Committees at 11 A.M. 
RENOVATING GRAPE VINES. 
ENOVATING worn-out Vine borders, or re-invigo¬ 
rating exhausted Vines, is work in which many 
either will or should he engaged at the present 
time. There are numbers of Vines which, 
though apparently in excellent condition, yet 
require extraordinary assistance, or otherwise 
their decadence will soon commence. By ex¬ 
traordinary assistance I mean liberal supplies 
of liquid manure, top-dressings with fresh soil, 
or a renewal of much of the border. The two former mea¬ 
sures may be sufficient for some comparatively new borders, 
but there are some which require the whole. No matter how 
well a border may have been originally formed, it must even¬ 
tually become exhausted of several of the properties which 
rendered it suitable in the first place, and unless these be 
renewed it is very evident the quality and weight of the crops 
will soon be visibly effected. As I have recently had to deal 
with Vines in the worst possible condition I will first describe 
the renovating process adopted, and then suggest what I 
consider necessary in the case of Vines in fairly good condi¬ 
tion. 
When I first took charge of these gardens my employer 
not only gave me permission to, but suggested a wholesale 
clearance of two vineries. Having, however, previously 
taken an active part in the work of renovating a range of 
five large vineries, and noted the highly satisfactory results, 
I hesitated to destroy Vines that I thought could be rein¬ 
vigorated, and I do not regret having preserved those I found 
here. It is true I to a certain extent marred my work by 
simply overcropping, yet on the whole I am satisfied with 
the results. One house was planted entirely with Black 
Hamburghs, and the other principally with Muscat of Alex¬ 
andria. The latter were in much the worst state, and perhaps 
these should have been cleared out, but then a wholesale 
clearance of a vinery entails much work and expense in form¬ 
ing a new border and raising or buying new Vines. No 
crop would be obtained the first year, and in my case, owing 
to the peculiar construction of the house and other uses to 
which it has to be put, there would only be a partial crop the 
second season after planting; whereas by renovating we 
secure a partial crop the following season, and a full crop 
the second year, with less than half the labour and expense. 
It is in the autumn when the men can best be spared for extra 
work, and it is in the autumn when the Vine borders should 
be renewed, this being when the root-action is most brisk. 
I entered upon my duties here early in the spring of 
1881, and naturally soon turned my attention to the Vines. 
On inquiry I fouud that the borders (outside only) had been 
made upwards of thirty years, and also for the last seven 
years had received no solid or liquid manure of any kind, 
but a very small quantity of guano had been annually dusted 
over. As a consequence no healthy roots were to be found 
anywhere near the surface. My first proceeding was to bare 
the stems down to the main roots, and these were nicked and 
surrounded by a mixture composed of leaf soil, wood ashes, 
or rather “ burnt bake,” as the ashes from a burnt heap of 
primings and other garden rubbish is locally termed, and 
old Mushroom-bed refuse. As the result of this several 
of the Vines, Muscats as well as Hamburghs, formed a 
quantity of large lively roots. When this was observed a 
top-dressing of turfy loam, short manure, and a dusting of 
superphosphate of lime was applied. I ought perhaps to 
mention that the two houses are heated by good flues, these 
warming the border near the front of the house, and by cover¬ 
ing the soil with light litter this heat was preserved. Had 
the houses been differently constructed and heated I should 
have formed a light hotbed along tbe front, as we must not 
expect old Vine stems and roots to emit early fresh rootlets 
when the surroundings are cold. The fresh soil was soon 
taken partial possession of, and a further mulching of leaf 
soil, than which no better root-enticer exists, was given, and 
the soil was kept moist. 
As will be shown, we had a crop of Hamburgh Grapes 
the same season, and these being all cut early in September 
we commenced to break up the border. Beginning at the 
front about one-third, or a width of 4 feet, was cut clean 
away and wheeled to where it was likely to do good. From 
this point the soil was forked away, every live root being 
carefully preserved, till we had reached the space previously 
top-dressed, and now fairly full of brittle white roots. The 
old roots which had been kept covered as much as possible 
and moistened frequently had all bruised pieces cut away, 
and those preserved, cleanly cut in order to assist their heat¬ 
ing. The turf employed had been previously cut, but not 
long enough to be stacked, neither is it necessary. With 
this was used a considerable quantity of lime rubbish, “ burnt 
bake,” short manure, and some of the old soil, all of which 
were distributed between layers of turf with the grass down¬ 
wards and about the roots. The whole was built to a width 
of 4 feet, made firm, and the roots distributed in layers, and 
as near the surface as their former disposition would admit. 
The same autumn I found several of the lifted old roots had 
formed fibres, and still more formed what I might term root 
buds, from which rootlets started the following season. These 
with the roots established in the top-dressing were sufficient 
to perfect a crop the season following, and now we have, in 
the case of the Hamburghs at least, a border crowded with 
roots, especially where I like to have them—viz., on the 
surface. 
Not only were the roots in a bad plight, hut the Vines 
also were in a'bad condition. In the first place they had 
long been too much crowded, a blunder by no means con¬ 
fined to our case. For many years they had been infested 
with mealy hug and other pests, and this, too, in spite of 
various violent remedies applied, these much injuring the rods, 
without affecting a clearance of the insects. When I took 
charge they had received their annual close pruning, cruel 
scraping, and dressing with some extraordinary m’xture* 
and taking all things into consideration I saw we must en¬ 
deavour to form new rods as well as new roots. The Ham¬ 
burghs broke fairly well and produced a good number of 
bunches, which, thanks to the slightly improved root-action, 
finished better than hitherto. Of Muscats we secured only a 
few bunches ; these were retained, but all the other shoots 
from the middle of the house or rods were kept closely rubbed 
out, also from near the middle to the front ridges of the 
house, my plan being to lay-in a young growth from the 
centre to grow to the top of the house, and another from the 
bottom to be taken up to and stopped at the starting point 
of the former. In this manner fairly good canes were 
obtained, and more than this, owing to the weak state of the 
Vines, I did not anticipate. While in full leaf the top por¬ 
tion or half of the rods, which it will be seen was destitute 
of young growth, were cut clean away, and if all had gone 
on well the remainder of the old rods, with the attached 
upper portions of young rods, would have been cut away the 
following season. Unfortunately we cropped too heavily, 
taking a full crop instead of, say, about two-thirds of an 
ordinary crop. As a consequence the lower young rods 
