1870. 3 
AERATED VINE BORDERS. 
19 
house. The European and North American kinds can be grown in the green¬ 
house, or better in a cool moist pit. Under these three heads, then, I shall offer 
a few remarks, which, I trust, may be of service to those who already possess 
some of these plants, and may induce others who have hitherto refrained from 
growing them through fear of mishaps, to add them without delay to their col¬ 
lections, since the peculiar beauties of colour and form which they present will 
give a fresh charm to the stove and green-house. 
The soil for their successful culture should be peat and chopped sphagnum 
moss, to which may be added a little good leaf-mould and silver sand. In the case 
of the European and North American species, a further small proportion of good 
turfy loam will be a great advantage. The pots should be well drained, and the 
plants should not be set above the rim of the pots, as is done in the case of most 
other orchids, but they should be planted slightly below the rim, as in potting 
ordinary stove or greenhouse plants. In the growing season the atmosphere 
should be moist, and an abundant supply of water must be administered to 
the roots ; even during the winter months they enjoy a liberal supply of that 
element, w^hich, however, should never be applied to their roots at a lower tem¬ 
perature'than that of the atmosphere in which they are growing. 
Cupripediims^ as before remarked, have no pseudobulbs, and consequently 
have no means of subsistence if water is withheld from them for any length of 
time. If subjected to such treatment they will soon shrivel up, and to recover 
them from this condition, if indeed they escape with then- life, will be found to 
be a work of extreme difficulty. At the very least, their beauty will be destroyed 
for a considerable time.—B. S. Williams, Victoria Nursery^ Holloway. 
AEKATED VINE BOKDERS. 
success of the Grapes sliowm by Mr. Johnston at the International Fruit 
Show^ in Edinburgh in September last, and grown in aerated borders, wall 
make some of the unbelievers begin to think that there is something in 
the system after all. When Mr. Fowler, of Castle Kennedy, commenced 
to grow and to show his fine Grapes from a&ated borders, I stated in an article in 
a contemporary that I believed he was on the right track for success, for I had 
proved that the system was a sound one. In forming the new Kitchen Garden 
here the principal range of vineries was necessarily placed in a very low situation, 
and the subsoil -was a strong red clay. One of the vineries, a very large one, was 
for growdng Muscats principally, and I had the borders aerated, by placmg two 
ro'ws of 4-in. pipes in a chamber outside the border, connecting it by air drains 
at every 4 ft. wuth the inside space "where the flow and return pipes were placed. 
The Muscat and other Grapes planted in this vinery were 12-year old vmes 
brought from the old gardens ; and the air-heated border -was made on purpose 
to give them a better start in rooting than they could have had in an unheated 
border. These vines bore a good crcp the second year after planting, and for the 
