362 ON THE FORMATION OF BORDERS FOR WALL FRUIT. 
successfully the first season, there certainly can be none the second, if 
treated by the rules which I have laid down both in the Magazine and 
Register. I have a cutting from a young green shoot of this season 
(a Muscat of Alexandria), detached from the vine on the 11th March, 
and coiled into a small pot; it girths one inch, and is only about nine 
feet long, and the eyes are as fine and prominent as you need desire. I 
have also many vines from coilers of this season, which girth from one 
inch to one inch and a quarter, and none above ten feet long ; some of 
them only eight feet, with fine bold fruit-buds. 
If horticultural societies will encourage the pot culture and coiling 
system of grape vines by holding out liberal prizes for their exhibition, 
you will soon find plenty successfully cultivated in the various exhibi¬ 
tion rooms ; and, till this is done, its merits will not be^known or duly 
appreciated. 
Excuse these short remarks, as I really have little time to devote to 
writing. 
Your obedient, &c., 
John Mearns. 
ON THE FORMATION OF BORDERS FOR WALL FRUIT. 
The cultivation of exotic fruit is a very material part of the British 
gardener’s business. The glazed and fire-heated buildings erected for 
this purpose are of various descriptions, and suited to the different 
kinds of plants intended to be cultivated therein. We have also flued 
walls heated by fire, and, lastly, solid walls which reflect and retain the 
heat of the sun, and on which tender fruit trees being trained are pro¬ 
tected while their shoots and fruit are matured. 
Much of the success of these expedients depends on the aspect, situ¬ 
ation, material, and manner in which these walls are built, but much 
more on the soil and constitution of the border in which the trees are 
destined to grow. In forming a new garden, the situation is much 
oftener chosen for its convenient proximity to the house than with 
reference to either soil or aspect: if the soil be naturally good and 
deep, little more is required than common trenching, and laying the 
general surface into the requisite form ; but, if the site consist of a poor 
or thin soil, then extraordinary means are taken to make the ground, 
particularly the fruit borders, fit for the reception and well-being of the 
trees. 
In the execution of this necessary work, the manager very often errs 
in making the border both too rich and too deep. It is so natural for a 
