58 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, Apeil 28, 1857. 
was a fine, heaAy, regular crop all over the house.. Such 
success at such a period can, however, onl} r he obtained by 
a free use of the naoist heat inside, and thick shading from 
sun outside resorted to by Mr. Thomson, and possessing, 
at the same time, a good portion of his skill and experience. 
Had we a vinery unfruitful, and we attributed the cause to 
the roots being deep and wet, and the crop was not worthy 
of consideration, we should not hesitate to move Vines after 
they had started in the spring months; but we should 
guarantee beforehand a sufficiency of shade from bright sun¬ 
shine, and no shade either mornings or evenings. Last year 
we planted some young Sweetwater Vines in a pit; but, 
from cramming the pit with plants, the Vines did little good, 
owing to the roots getting soaked. In the beginning of 
July we cut the Vines back almost to their base, and took 
away a good portion of the sodden soil. Young shoots came 
away freely afterwards, and were sufficiently ripened in the 
autumn to be now covered with fruit. As the place is small 
the shoots are not long, and we merely mention it as cor¬ 
roborative of what may be done with Vines in summer. 
The best time for our correspondent to lift his Vines, so 
as to insure success the following year at the least amount 
of trouble and risk, would be from the last fortnight in Sep¬ 
tember to the first week in October. By that time the fruit 
will be ripe and cut, and the wood will be approaching 
maturity, while the leaves will still have a green tint, though 
showing signs of maturity. The success will greatly depend 
on shading the house from bright sunshine, and keeping it 
in a moist growing state for a little longer than usual, in 
order that, by a. reciprocal action between leaves and roots, 
there shall be a protrusion of fresh roots into the soil before 
winter, and which may be allowed to grow slowly all the 
winter by covering the border with litter, and using means 
to prevent its getting too wet. 
The chief reason for lifting Vines at all is when the roots 
get too deep in wettish soil. If the roots are not too deep an 
extra supply of moisture might be got rid of by a deep 
drain along its front, and some means for excluding the 
heavy autumnal and winter rains. If cross drains are re¬ 
quired for this purpose, and the roots are also deep, the 
lifting them within six or nine inches of the surface will be 
the most effectual plan, and the drains may be made at the 
same time. 
In performing this operation it is best to begin with a 
wide trench in front of the border, and rather deeper than 
the roots, and go upwards to the wall-plate, picking 
most of the earth away from the fibres and roots as you 
proceed, and whenever they get long enough encasing them 
in a mat kept moist, or wrapped in damp moss, until you 
get up as far as you wish to go—to the wall-plate, or 
perhaps a yard from it, though we prefer the former. When 
this is done with two, or three, or more Vines at a time, you 
can regulate your border as to drainage, level, &c., before 
laying down and spreading out tbe roots. A border sloping 
(rom back to front, say one foot in seven or so, is much 
better than having it flat. In relaying the roots nothing is 
better than about equal portions of fresh sandy loam, lime 
rubbish, and very fine leaf mould. In this they will throw 
out fresh roots readily, and vigour can be easily given by 
surface dressings and manure waterings. We can say nothing 
of nettle roots for such a purpose, having never tried them; 
but if the smallest bit Avas alive it would give a good deal of 
tiouble afterwards. If thoroughly dead, and yet rather fresh, 
they would tend to keep the soil open. If much decomposed 
we do not think they would be so good as leaf mould. " 
It is light to say that, without farther information, we 
should be unable to say positively whether deep roots were 
the sole cause of the failure complained of, or that lifting 
alone would remedy the matter in future. We have no hesi¬ 
tation in saying that the appearances spoken of may be 
attiibutable to three causes, and our correspondent will be 
in the best position to judge which of these was most 
influential in his case. 
1st. As the wood is so strong it is possible that the roots 
lie rather deep in a cold, damp stratum, and the want of 
stimulus at the roots, when the stems were at G0° and 
upwards, caused the bunches to shrivel up, though the 
leaves were not greatly influenced. The fruit, in°all its 
stages, is more sensitive of a check than any other part of 
the plant. The chief thing that militates against this idea, 
and, consequently, against the necessity for lifting the roots, 
is the fact stated, that the Vines showed abundance of fruit; 
because, in such circumstances, the wood is frequently so 
imperfectly ripened that the show of fruit is thin, though 
the bunches may be fine and the leaves large. The going 
off, however, as stated, just leaves it possible that wet and 
cold, united with depth, were the cause of the failure. 
2nd. Supposing the roots were near enough to the surface, 
there is nothing said of protecting them ; and the nearer 
they were to the surface the more liable they would be to 
be cooled by such cold weather as we had in February and 
the beginning of March. We recollect a house being lost 
from this cause. The inside was from 65° to 70°; the roots 
were within nine to twelve inches of the surface, which was 
frozen hard. At a foot in depth the soil was barely 35°. 
The Vines made good wood for another year, but scarcely a 
bunch recovered: they hung welted in the house. If the 
border had been at G0 Q , or from 5° to 10° more, such a 
casualty would not have happened. 
3rd. Such a result will take place, even if the roots are 
near the surface, and mulched to keep out frost, if the soil 
about the roots gets cold and water-logged, which the mere 
covering with litter has a tendency to do, as the atmosphere 
cannot get at the soil, and a proper liygrometric action is 
prevented. Though protecting the border in all such cases 
of early forcing is good, care should be taken that the 
protection does not make the border into a morass. Hence 
the importance of thatching, canvassing, or boarding over 
the ^covered border, or using some means to prevent the 
border getting extra wet. A friend of ours, a good Grape 
grower, whose border is rather flat, and who had covered it 
with litter, saw his bunches beginning to turn up as our 
correspondent’s. Fortunately there 'were a few fine days, 
and the wet mulching was removed, and the border slightly 
stirred and exposed to the air, and the evil was stayed. If 
this fine weather continues it is doubtful, if he covers it 
again, though in the case of very early Vines, and the roots 
near the surface, whether re-covering with open, dry material 
would be necessary. 
When Vines are planted inside, and most or part of the 
roots are within, there is no necessity for this trouble with 
covering to secure warmth. If the soil is allowed to dry in 
the autumn, watering with warm water will give both mois¬ 
ture and warmth. 
Though, therefore, we have said so much on lifting Vines, 
we should advise our correspondent not to lift his until he has 
convinced himself that neither of the last two means have 
caused the failure, or that a good front drain would not 
remedy the evil. 
We quite sympathise with the difficulty, for we have already 
chronicled in these pages how we have had Vines that grew 
so strong, and yet were so liable to shrivel and tendril their 
bunches, that we were obliged to place weights on the ends of 
i the bunches as soon as they showed themselves, and to get r 
a free show at all we were obliged to adopt the rod system of 
growing and pruning—that is, growing a rod this year to 
fruit it the next—and to take extra care, by means of a dry 
atmosphere in the autumn, to ripen the wood well. We raised 
some Vines, and planted young ones near the surface, and 
kept them there ; and since then, though there is less vigour 
in the foliage, it matters not how the Vines are cut, there is 
sure to be plenty of fruit. But were we starting one of these 
Vines at Christmas, and its roots near the surface, and 
having a temperature of GO 0 to 05° at the end of February 
and the beginning of March, and the roots at from 35° to 40°, 
we should expect the bunches to bid us good-bye. When 
forcing is attempted pretty early, and there is an objection- 
to covering the borders, the main root should be from 
eighteen inches to two feet deep, and dry enough there from 
thorough drainage. At such a depth Ave have found a few 
I eA r ergreen branches over the border in frosty weather suffi¬ 
cient. We should, however, prefer the roots nearer the sur¬ 
face, and covering of some kind used to keep the border 
warm and not clogged with Avet.] 
BESTING CAMELLIAS. 
“ Mr. Errington says, ‘ I hold it to be somewhat important 
to give the plants a decided rest for nearly a month after 
