JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 3, 1882. ] 
3rd 
Tn 
British Bee-keepers’ Association’s Show at S. Kensington (five 
4 th 
P 
days). Messrs. J. Carter & Co.’s Special Prizes for Tomatoes. 
5th 
S 
Liverpool and Southampton Shows (two days). Alexandra 
6 th 
Sun 
9TH Sunday after Trinity. [Palace Gooseberry Show. 
7th 
M 
Manchester Gooseberry and Table-decoration Show. 
8 th 
Tu 
Itoyal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Committees at 
9 th 
W 
[11 A.M. 
WHY, WHEN, AND HOW WE MANURE OUR VINES. 
THE CAPACITY OF SOILS FOR SALTS AND GASES. 
N order to be fairly understood upon this im¬ 
portant subject it will be necessary to go into 
details, but at the same time I hope to be at 
once clear and concise enough to enable your 
readers to follow me without effort and with¬ 
out weariness. To begin with, something must 
be said on the capacity of soils for salts and gases, 
for different soils need different treatment in 
order to secure approximate results with a minimum of 
expense and of loss. All soils are not equal either in 
their natural fertility or in their capacity for retaining plant 
food. Some soils, sands for instance, instead of retaining the 
salts and gases supplied in the form of manures, and instead 
of only parting with them to cultivated crops, part with them 
to the rains when these come in sufficient quantities to pass in 
bulk through the soil. Others, again, although they are ad¬ 
mirably fitted to retain salts and gases, are so very close and 
adhesive that they are not suited for arable culture, and pecu¬ 
liarly unsuited to the cultivation of fruit trees, and especially 
the Vine. Both kinds of soils are therefore avoided as far as 
possible, or the one is corrected by being duly mixed with the 
other. This, in many cases, might be done with great advan¬ 
tage, and might, in some instances, be even preferable to cart¬ 
ing medium loam from a long distance, as w’hen one descrip¬ 
tion of soil is at hand only a half, more or less, of the opposite 
description will be needed. At all events it is necessary, or at 
the very least wise, to have a certain proportion of clay in every 
cultivated soil, and much more especially in a Vine border, for 
according to the proportion of clay in the soil will be the 
capacity for retaining manures, whether applied as liquid 
manure to pass through, or as top-dressings to be washed in. 
At the same time it is also necessary that enough opening ma¬ 
terial be either naturally in the soil or artificially mixed with 
it, for unless this is the case w r ater will not readily pass away, 
and so will become stagnant and destructive. Neither will the 
roots ramify freely, and unless the soil be gritty enough and 
firm enough to cause the roots to multiply and break up into 
numberless fibres the results will not be first-class. 
The above remarks are only general, but sufficient to convey 
my meaning. In the case of Vine borders I put more value 
upon having the soil mechanically right than chemically so, 
always providing, of course, that it contains nothing deleterious. 
As regards Vines we trust much more to what food is furnished 
artificially than to what the soil will yield of itself, for that in 
the richest natural soil would not produce results to satisfy any 
of us. With orchards it is somewhat different, for we expect 
95 
orchard trees to find much, if not most, of their food in the 
soil, and this they do on favourable orchard soils. 
As we think it necessary to furnish most, if not all, the food 
needed by Vines artificially without altering the mechanical 
nature of the soil, we first of all inquire what food (and in what 
proportions) a Vine needs, and in what form it may be best 
applied. The first thing we turn to is the composition of what 
the Vine takes out of the soil to manufacture stems, shoots, 
and fruits. To those who have not tables of analysis ready to 
turn to it may not be out of place to say here that 
The Ash of Vine Wood 
IS COMPOSED 
OF 
1st var. 
2nd var. 
Potash . 
... 34-13 
to 
37-48 
Soda. 
... 7-59 
1-33 
Magnesia. 
... G’55 
V 
1-05 
Lime. 
... 30-23 
43-88 
Phosphoric acid . 
... 1G*35 
9-20 
Sulphuric acid . 
... 2-6G 
>> 
3-61 
Silica. 
... 1-45 
0-72 
Peroxide of iron . 
... 016 
1-08 
Chloride of sodium . 
... 0-83 
» 
1-61 
Total . 
... 100-00 
99-9G 
These tables approximate to all 
others thal 
I 
have seen, 
although some show slight differences ; still 
the 
above are 
sufficient as a guide. The wood, it ought to be remembered, 
consists chiefly of water, and even after the water is by evapo¬ 
ration driven off, what remains is chiefly organic substances, 
which, when burned, leaves a small per-centage of ash. This 
ash is all that is taken out of the border, if we except a little 
ammonia or nitric acid, wdiich is very easily returned, and is 
generally, in fact, applied in very much greater quantity than is 
necessary. This needs to be borne in mind. Of course there 
is the annual crop of fruit (as well as shoots) which is annually 
taken from the Vines ; but if green Vine wood consists chiefly 
of water, what shall we say of Grapes, and especially of those 
not very well cultivated ? The truth is the total amount taken 
out of the border by the annual crops is very small. Never¬ 
theless, it is none the worse to know exactly what is taken out, 
so we, as in the case of the wood, may just as well state here 
that 
The Ash op Grapes contains op 
Must. 
Skins. 
• Stones. 
Juice. 
Potash . 
G2-74 ... 
4G-89 
o Tv 
< i. \j id . 
. 4G-89 
Soda. 
2-GG ... 
1-02 
. 1-62 
Lime . 
5 11 ... 
21-73 
. 35'd7 
. 21-73 
Magnesia . 
395 ... 
4-45 
. 8-51 . 
. 4-45 
Phosphoric acid ... 
17 04 ... 
15*C><> 
. 21-05 . 
. 15-66 
Sulphuric acid 
4-S9 ... 
3-88 
. 2-61 . 
. 388 
Oxide of Manganese 
0-30 ... 
0 5L 
. 0.45 . 
. 0-51 
Iron. 
0-40 ... 
1-97 
0"G5 . 
. 1-97 
Chlorine. 
0-70 ... 
0-71 
. 0’35 . 
. 0-71 
Silica . 
OO 
ri 
2 71 
1-27 . 
. 2-57 
99-97 
9824 
99-91 
99-99 
We have collected a great number of analytical tables, but 
the above are the only ones to hand which give the analysis of 
the mineral matters found in Grapes ; and although it might 
have been better to have given one table only, showing the 
exact per-centage of each component of the whole fruit taken 
together, still some advantage may follow from having them 
separate, for possibly such facts as the o »e that Grape stones 
have a greater per-centage of phosphoric acid than not only 
any other part of the fruit but of the Vine, may throw some 
light on the conditions necessary to secure a free set or to do 
away with stones altogether. One fact stands out above all 
No. 110 —Yen. V., Third series. 
No. 1766.— Yol. LXVIII, Old Series. 
