oil 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY 
i tions, and every available inch in all the miles is filled 
I with scarlet Geraniums. The effect of this oil the 
| place is peculiarly monotonous and commonplace. 
D. Beaton. 
VINE FAILURES, VINE BORDERS, AND 
REPLANTING VINES. 
“ I have a vinery thirty feet long heated by hot water, 
the internal management of which, with respect to heat, air, 
and moisture, has been such as to justify me in expecting 
a good crop of Grapes, and I am told by parties who 
have seen the border (which is outside the front wall, being 
set on arches) that it is most efficiently done. How¬ 
ever, I am much disappointed, as both last year and this I 
have had a poor crop indeed, and the few bunches that were 
there coloured very badly last year. This year they have not 
yet begun to colour. 
“ I have examined the border, which, by the way, has a 
steep pitch , having about two feet of a fall, and I find that 
the first eighteen inches of soil are of a rich, open nature, 
with scarcely a root in it; but upon going down about 
another foot into a poor sandy soil I found the majority of the 
roots, though in a very unhealthy state. Now, I contemplate 
bringing them nearer the surface. Shall I be doing right ? 
and what time will be best for the operation ? I have plenty 
of fresh brown loam, some well-rotted manure, some leaf 
mould, some well-decayed vegetable matter, and some lime 
rubbish and broken brickbats, which I intend mixing well 
together, and also the eighteen inches of good unexhausted 
soil from the top of the border. Will that compost insure 
success as far as root management goes ? and should I set 
about it immediately, a thorough shading being secured, or 
stay until what few Grapes there are be ripened and cut, 
then keep the house close and moist, allowing the Vines to 
grow unchecked at the top of the house to excite root action 
before winter sets in ? Would it prevent the next year’s 
fruit-buds from getting properly ripened ? Should I plant a 
few young Vines along with them, in case of the old ones 
proving a failure J. Just. 
There lias been so much said of Vines lately that 
we fear entering into your case will be very like a 
reiteration of frequently repeated ideas; and yet we can 
hardly dismiss it with a simple reference, as many 
readers will now be thinking of setting about forming 
Vine borders, &c. Your information is not sufficiently 
precise to enable us to see thoroughly the cause of 
failure, though from the data given we have our doubts 
either that the border was not “efficiently made” or 
that the after management was wrong. To suit various 
circumstances I will throw a few inferences into separate 
paragraphs. 
1. When borders are well made, that is, secured 
against anything like stagnant moisture, good Grapes 
may be grown in a depth of soil averaging from fifteen 
to twenty-four inches; but good Grapes may also be 
procured in well-drained borders that are from two to 
three feet deep, or even deeper. The advantage of the 
shallow border is that the roots are more under your 
command ; the disadvantage is that you must guard 
these roots from extremes of wet and cold. The ad¬ 
vantage of a deep border is that the roots are com¬ 
paratively indifferent to extremes of temperature; the 
disadvantage is that you can do little to excite them 
into extra activity when you wish to excite the Vine 
j stems in the house. Hence I have frequently seen 
houses forced year after year in January or earlier, the 
border left in its natural condition, and good crops 
I produced ; but you might search in vain for many roots 
; near the surface. I have seen the same thing tried with 
shallow borders, and disappointment ensue, because the 
roots near the surface received a sudden chill, which 
told on the young Grapes when in a critical state. 
2. Hence it will appear that a deepish border well 
drained, other things being equal, will require less care, 
just because it is so far beyond our control. A shallow 1 
GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, August 18, 1857. 
border is more under our management; the roots, if 
prevented going down or coaxed to the surface, are 
nearer the atmosphere, and the wood is likely to be 
more fruitful in consequence; but if we work such 
Vines much before the natural period we must give the 
border protection, to guard it against sudden extremes 
of wet and cold in winter, and in summer we must 
coax the roots to the surface if there is nothing to pre 
vent them getting down. 
3. The roots of all trees, Vines among the number, if 
left to themselves, will naturally get downwards—a fact 
which contributes to the timber properties of our native 
trees, because they thus obtain a sufficiency of moisture 
when the external surface is rendered very dry ; but a 
fact and a result that should teach us a preventive in the 
case of tender exotics which we cultivate for fruit, as 
otherwise we may have unhealthy and unripened wood, 
and look for fruit in vain. 
4. Other things being equal, the greater the depth 
from which shoots draw their moisture the more gross 
will be their growth, and the greater the amount of sun 
and heat necessary to mature that growth and ripen its 
fruit-buds. On the score of fruit bearing alone, then, 
and especially when the plant is an exotic, rejoicing in 
a more sunny sky than we can command, it is important 
that the moisture absorbed should be within atmospheric 
influence. This is one reason why the roots should 
be prevented getting too deep. Another reason is the 
frequent unsuitableness of the soil or subsoil for the 
growth of such plants. In addition to the depth of the 
moisture it becomes the medium of unfavourable pro¬ 
perties, and the roots penetrate a stratum in which they 
cannot thrive. 
5. In the present case, then, the roots having descended 
into a poor sandy soil, and very likely with some noxious 
substance in it, as an extra amount of iron, the roots 
should either have been prevented getting into it by a 
good layer of concrete on a sloping foundation, or should 
have been encouraged to keep in the good soil above it 
by protection from wet and cold in winter, and by surface 
mulchings and surface waterings in summer. Without 
either this concreting or flagging to prevent the roots 
going down, or this summer attention, the mere lifting 
the roots will be attended with advantage only for a few 
years, the main young feeders striking downwards again 
in search of moisture. I am inclined to think that the 
want of this surface attention to the border is the chief 
cause why the roots have descended into this poor sandy 
soil: they wanted warmth in winter and moisture in 
summer. Some time ago I had a similar case, on a nice 
sloping border too, with a good drain in front of it, 
brought under my notice. It was no deeper than our 
correspondent’s, and its owner stated that it had received 
neither protection in winter nor watering nor mulching 
in summer for several years. He disliked the idea of 
concreting his border, but the roots were carefully 
raised, fresh matter incorporated with the border to 
make it six inches deeper, the roots placed within from 
four to six inches of the surface, protected with a tar- 
pawling or a thatch of straw in winter and a mulching 
in summer, and there has been no more failure. 
6. Our correspondent will now resolve whether he will 
concrete the bottom of his border or not. Under the 
circumstances I would advise doing so, making thus a 
sloping bottom for the border from two to three inches 
thick of concrete, formed by one barrow-load of quick¬ 
lime to seven or eight of gravel and rough, hard sand, 
using enough water to mix it, laying it down at once, 
and rolling firmly as soon as it would bear it. On this, 
when dryish, place a layer of brickbats, and then the 
soil, the roots of the Vines all the time being kept moist, 
wrapped up in cloths or mats, and replant from four to 
twelve inches from the surface, according as you mean 
to protect the border or leave it alone. 
