350 
THE COTTAGE GARDENEK. 
Eeijp.uary 12. 
: concretin" nor draining is required ; but, in most cases, 
: it is prelerable to secure tlie means of both. Tlie 
j following may be considered an outline :—Prepare the 
bottom of the border, some t\vo-and-a-half to three feet 
below the contemplated surface, and as little as may be' 
beneath the natural surface of the ground; let the 
bottom of the border slope from back to front, at some¬ 
thing like one inch fall for one foot in width, if the 
nature of the ground will permit of us much. Place 
along the front of the bottom of the border a drain 
j from one to two feet deeper still, and filled up with 
! rubble. In extreme cases, cross drains every twelve 
feet may also be necessary. The concreting the surface 
may now be proceeded with. Taking about six parts 
of clean gravel and one of quick lime, mixing it with 
a sufficiency of water, and laying it down quickly about 
two inches thick, beating it level, and then rolling 
it firm. On this, if come-at-able, place six inches of 
rubble, as broken bricks, &c ; cover with rough soil first, 
and then put on the general compost. With such pre¬ 
paration, it is next to impossible for the roots of Vines 
to be anything but right. 
CojiposT I'OK Boiiueks. —A correspondent, whose pro¬ 
posed house is thirty feet by eighteen feet, lias the toji 
spit of a sandy pasture, a quantity of raw leaves, and 
raw stable litter, bone dust from button mills, and about 
ninety stones of large horse bones, having a quantity 
of decomposing matter about the legs and feet, buried 
in the compost twelve mouths, and solicits Mr. 
Errington’s opinion, which, 1 have no doubt, our friend 
will give, especially if there should be tbe shade of a 
shade of diflerenco between our opinion. Now, had J 
my choice, 1 would prefer a hazel-coloured loam, and to 
liglitcn that by lime-rubbish, or other calcareous matter, 
such as nodules of chalk; but wanting that, I should 
be satisfied with the kind spoken of; but if I used the 
quantity of bones, broken into small pieces, 1 would not 
le over lavish of the raw leaves and dung, as the 
border would sink so much afterwards; but 1 would 
prefer organised matter more decomposed, and yearly 
surfacings afterwards. 
Width of Border. —The same correspondent asks, if 
fourteen feet would be enough. And, in most cases, 
for such a house, the half would be enough. J have 
seen Vines grown in small width, by the addition of 
annual, rich surfacings. in general cases, the width of 
the roof ofiers a guide for the width of the border ; but 
when the bottom is concreted, so that the roots do not 
descend, 1 have found Vino roots far beyond the made 
border. Were it not for the thing not being linished at 
once—which seems such an eye-sore to many—Vines 
would bo benefited by having additions made to their 
growing room by degrees, instead of all at once, and then 
the advancing roots would have I'resh material to revel 
in. Some readers may recollect how Mr. liano com¬ 
menced his Vine borders in his Orchard-house. A 
bundle of fern was laid on the ground, on this was ]>ilcd 
iqr about a good cart-load of prime soil from the com¬ 
mon, and on that the Vine was planted, and growing 
vigorously. Next year, the Vine will have a double 
quantity, and so, by degrees, the border will bo made, 
the Vines every year having the advantage of fresh, rich 
feeding-ground, and the border costing no more in tbe 
end than if it had been made all at once; when some 
time must have transpired before yielding any return 
for the outlay. 
'iniE FOR Bdanting.—N o time hardly comes wrong. 
I Autumn, winter, and spring, involves least trouble; but 
I tSie correspondent whose house will not be ready until 
I May, or even Juno, may plant successfully then, especially 
as he has another house in wdiich to grow the ])lants in 
pots. When turned out, the roots should be disentangled, 
without breaking them ; and if May or .June, by means 
i ot heated water at the roots, and mulching, and a little 
shading of the tops, care should be taken that the plant 
does not feel the removal. Where there are proper 
conveniences, I would prefer May and June to any other 
time. 
Pi.AXTiXG INSIDE THE IIousE.—I liuvc rccommcndcd 
this in many cases. The first correspondent referred to, 
supposing he has his walk along the centre of the house, 
proposes planting his Vines in the fruit five-feet border, 
to have a five-feet border outside, and the front wall 
between them pigeon-holed to let out the roots; and 1 
know of no reason why he should not do so, provided 
drainage is attended to, and the outside border is but 
little, if anything, higher than the inside one. Had I 
my choice in the matter of very early or very late Vines, 
I should prefer the roof to slope at an angle of less than 
■15°, and would plant the Vines against the back-wall of 
the house. The roots being in-doors, I could assist them 
with warm water, for early w'ork; and for late-keeping 
Vines, the roots could be rendered dryish, and kept so, after 
the fruit was ri])ened, and thus all trouble with an outside 
border, protecting, &c., avoided. When the stems are 
trained down the lights instead of up the wood is 
naturally firmer and shorter jointed. 1 have, also, seen 
Vines jdanted in the middle of the house, and then 
dividing to the back and front, and doing well; and by 
cither of these processes there is little or no necessity 
for an out door border at all, if such houses were not 
now so generally made omiut/m (jatltenims, that scarcely 
a ray of sunlight can reach the soil inside, and it is apt 
to bo clogged with waterings from pots, A'c. There is 
the advantage of having the stems of the Vines always 
safe, if I'Janted inside in a border, close to the front wall, 
and that has arches or pigeon-holes ; but, as already 
hinted, to make the most of this arrangement, the soil 
outside should not be higher than it is inside. 
Waterproofing outside Borders. —“ 1 thought if it 
would do to put gas-tar or coal-ashes on the top of the 
border outside, to walk upon, as it is now a walk, and 
then it would not interfere with the present arrange¬ 
ment of the garden ; but 1 would not do this if it was 
prejudicial to the Vines.” This scheme is in connection 
with the five feet border inside, and planting inside. 
The subject is a large one, and I know Mr. Beaton 
could give some jnactical details iqion this subject. I 
do not sec why a common hard walk over the border 
would not answer the case of our correspondent. 'That, 
liow'ever hard, w'ould not be so impervious to moisture 
and air as a walk surfaced with gas-tar. In early forcing, 
it w'ould bo necessary to cover this walk with litter. If 
vvaterinoofed with a surfacing of tar, no rains would 
hurt Grapes kept late in autumn; and there w'ould be 
no danger of such covered ground becoming too dry so 
long as there was any moisture in the ground in the 
neighbourhood. We are only groping our way on this 
subject of concreting and waterproofing borders on the 
surface—thus almost entirely depriving the roots of air— 
and I would notlike authoritatively to recommend or dis¬ 
commend the practice. In the case of an early Vinery, 
ill w'hich the Vines w'ere planted outside, I covered the 
border thinly with gus-tnr and road-drift, which set 
almost as hard as slate, and was impenetrable by water. 
It remained covered nearly four years, the Vines pro¬ 
ducing plenty of well-flavoured fruit. I then thought 
the wood was getting a little weaker, and removed the 
covering, and found the ground beneath it in a very 
good state, neither dry nor wet, and loaded with roots 
in fine growing condition. The heat from the sun in 
summer, and from the fermenting material in spring, 
had encouraged the roots to the surface, and the same 
heat had brought moisture, by something like capillary 
attraction from the surrounding ground. I have seldom 
left such covering more than seven or eight months 
in the coldest and w'ettest months since. In the case of 
our corrcsiiondent, however, I see no reason why his 
