so 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Novembeb 6, 1860. 
thirty berries on each plant, ancl each plant about 18 inches 
high. 
I find those grown from seed produce berries much larger 
than the plants from cuttings do. They are in pots of different 
sizes. I have one plant in a 48-pot with fifty berries on it 
which are colouring fast, and in the course of a fortnight will be 
a most beautiful little object.—H ampshire. 
COVERING VINE-BORDERS. 
I am making a Grape Vine-border. I have drained the 
ground; put at the bottom concrete, then lime and brick rub¬ 
bish, then best rotten manure and mould. I have made it 
12 feet wide, and laid it to a slope, so that the rain water can 
run off; and at the end of the 12 feet, besides the under-drainage, 
I hare put a surface drain ; but as the roots of the Vines ulti¬ 
mately extend I intend to increase the width of the border 
8 feet, making it altogether 20 feet. Now, I wish to know what 
you consider the best mode of covering the border—say from 
August to June, so as to protect it from wet and frost. There 
are two modes I conceive—first, by thatching the border, and 
then removing the thatching in June, and throwing it on the 
dunglieap ; but the objection to this is it harbours insects, 
mice, vermin, &c. Secondly, by having slates, so to lay the 
slates down on the border temporarily, which will carry off the 
wet and check the frost. Which is the best mode ? or can you 
suggest a better ? A temporary roofing of felt is objectionable, 
because of stowing away. Slate can easily be taken up and put 
down, and stowed away; but on the whole I think thatching 
the best.— Amateur. 
[We do not think that any \ ine-border wants covering or 
thatching from August to June. For pretty early forcing it 
would need covering from the second week, or the first week in 
Ocober, to the end of May or the beginning of June. To cover 
so early as August would be to deprive the border of the hottest 
rays of the sun for the season; and covering should only be 
resorted to when the doing so will keep the border warmer and 
more regular than when exposed. See articles lately by Messrs. 
Daily and Fish on this subject. 
Slates alone we would disapprove of, because in severe frost the 
ground would freeze beneath them. Wooden shutters, half an 
inch thick and strengthened by cross and end-bars, would be 
better and quite as light to move; but in frosty weather and in 
early forcing we should like some litter or fern beneath them. 
This litter can only be dispensed with in such circumstances when 
the roots get so deep as not to be affected by sudden changes in 
the weather. Shutters as to room afterwards would be liable to 
much the same objection as asphalt, only they could be put close 
together without injuring each other, and, when not wanted for 
the border, might be made of sizes to suit covering pits and frames 
and other purposes. We have seen such shutters or covers made 
six feet by four, with cross-bars, and a ledge all round one inch 
and a half deep, costing about 65 . each, that have been in use 
more than a dozen years and hardly ever idle, and they seem not 
a whit the worse. Strong tarpauling may also be obtained at about 
Is. per yard; and if a little fern or litter were placed on the 
border, and some rough slabs or poles over that to keep the 
tarpaulin stretched and free from the litter and the ground, it 
will last many years, and be easily put on and taken off and 
stowed away. Such tarpaulin is very useful for throwing off 
heavy rains in autumn, even when you wish the atmosphere to 
have free access to the border. Altogether, however, when 
economy more than appearances is to be considered, placing litter 
on the border and rough-thatching it would be best. The dis¬ 
advantages are chiefly that in heavy snows it is difficult to get it 
off without injuring the thatching, and that the border, conse¬ 
quently, is apt to be soaked and cooled. To guard so far against 
this, we will mention two plans that have been pretty successfully 
adopted. In both cases the surface of the border is made smooth. 
This secured, Mr. Judd, of Althorp, has a heap of lime, sand, and 
very fine gravel, which is watered, and mixed, and put on the border 
about two inches thick or so, beat or rolled smooth, and the litter 
put over it. Scarcely a drop of rain will go through it. In May 
or June, when the litter is removed, this concreting is also re¬ 
moved, placed in a heap, and a little fresh lime and sand, and 
fresh mixing does year after year. 
This is the plan that used to be followed in the case of the 
early houses; and, as detailed in a previous volume, by a pipe 
placed longitudinally along the border and a few inches from the 
surface, and a thermometer thrust along the pipe by means of a 
long rod, the temperature could always be seen and noted. The 
other plan has been frequently adopted by Mr. Fish. After 
smoothing the border, a few barrowloads of fresh cowdung, if 
procurable, were plastered thinly over it, and on that as thin a 
layer of coal tar as could be drawn with the spade or trowel, 
generally thinner than a sixpence. No water will go through 
that. Over the tar is thrown a sprinkling of sand drift, or saw¬ 
dust, and then when deemed necessary a little litter is thrown 
over to keep out frost, and i3 generally increased as the forcing 
commences. In May or June, when the litter is removed, the 
thin coating of tar is easily whipped off with a sharp spade or 
shovel. If a strong sun beats on it for a few days, it will often 
lift in good large pieces. Such tar being generally procured at 
about one penny a gallon, a shilling’s worth will do a fair¬ 
sized border for a fair-sized house. In putting it on the man 
should use a plank to stand on, so as to make no footmarks. It 
spreads more quickly and easily if the barrel or vessel containing 
it is put into a fermenting dunglieap, so as to heat it a little. 
The wurkman should have something tied round his legs to 
prevent any drops falling on his browsers. He may roll up his 
shirt sleeves, and not mind a few spatters on his hands or arms. 
Candle grease, soap, and hot water will remove all traces almost 
as soon as any other dirt. The rubbing the places with grease 
before applying the soap water is important. 
On the whole, then, unless the roots are deeper than we like 
them to be, we would use less or more litter on the outside 
border of forced Tines. For covering that border, we would 
prefer wood covers or shutters, or waterproof canvass free of the 
litter, and next to these we would prefer litter and rough thatching 
as our correspondent proposes, with or without the above means 
of surfacing the border for the winter.] 
FRUITS OF 1860 AT BURNTWOOD GRANGE. 
(.Continued from page 66.) 
We now resume from page 11 our notes on the Tines. 
The greatest and most mystic point of Grape-growing lies in 
the nature of the roots being as perfectly understood as that of 
the branches. If not, the grower may hit right for a year or 
two, but in the end is sure of being overtaken with some unex¬ 
pected malady or failure, which is immediately attributed to 
various other causes when it lies at the root at last. 
Many treat the Tine in almost the same manner they would 
an aquatic—saturating both foliage and fruit with water once, 
twice, and often three times each day, without once asking them¬ 
selves the question or even thinking whether the roots were in 
the condition that would allow this useless and unnatural prac¬ 
tice to be constantly followed up. 
This again brings under notice the Tine-border that I men¬ 
tioned when at Chippenham. It would be impossible for a 
border to be composed of more genial ingredients than that 
border was composed of. What, then, was the primary cause 
that subjected those Tines to such a direful disease ? This is a 
question that requires serious consideration amongst all that are 
in any way connected with Grape-growing. This is where the 
mischief arose : the border was kept far too dry whilst the Tines 
were growing, yet the canes were kept in just the reverse state— 
far too wet. Never could a border be better drained than it was, 
so that it would have borne any amount of feeding ; but there 
was not sufficient moisture supplied to the border to keep the 
roots in what was intended for them to revel in. They started 
in search of moisture in a horizontal direction until they came in 
contact with the cold clay, and, judging from the size of the roots 
where they entered the clay, they must have penetrated to some 
considerable distance; which says for itself that the ungenial 
soil they were compelled to abstract their food from, with the 
continual saturating they were daily subjected to, is wholly and 
solely the cause of the appearance of that uncoveted guest— 
mildew. 
These were highly fed all through the growing season of 1859, 
or they would not have been then as they were. They were not 
constantly saturated with water in the house; but the atmosphere 
was kept in a humid state through the damping that was applied 
to tlie floor of the house, with the exception of when the bloom 
was cleaned from off the berries. 
Here this year they have received the like treatment those 
received mentioned above. They received a thorough syringing 
after they had set their fruit; but not once after was there any 
