41 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 20, 1857. 
But what I chiefly want to know from you is what depth is 
needful to flower them in there during the summer. Should 
the plants, which are now growing in great luxuriance in 
beds, be much cut in, and should they be lifted with a ball, 
or should the earth be shaken off and the roots pruned ? 
I suppose the greenhouse is better than a dry loft for them 
in winter. 
“ I have some good Verbenas, some planted out, some 
plunged in pots—young plants just come into flower. What 
do you consider the best means of keeping them over the 
winter? Should they be cut down, and should they be kept 
dry, and will those in the ground bear well being put into 
pots ? 
“ Do you recommend old Pelargoniums in preference to 
young ones, as "well as Tom Thumbs ? I mean such as 
Beatrice , Julian, Jacques Duval, &c.”—J ane. 
[So much has been said of this that we fear to repeat. 
Every volume at this season discusses it at length. Whether 
for pots or boxes proceed thus :—Remove directly many of 
the most luxuriant leaves, and that will help to harden the 
stems. When you lift them if you have a, greenhouse you 
need not stop the shoots at all until growing freely in the 
spring. Under the hay-loft system when you take them up 
it will be as well to break or cut off all the soft spongy points 
of shoots, and remove all the leaves. If you can get a ball 
to the roots, good and well, but it is of little consequence. 
Secure as many fibres as you can, pack the roots thickly 
together in sandy soil, give a little water, and move to the loft 
when the soil is getting dry again. They will not, probably, 
require more water until the buds begin to break in March 
or April. Your boxes for the window will do better the 
second season than the first, because next year, instead of 
having your plants luxuriant in beds, you can, by limiting 
the supply of water, have your shoots hard and firm in the 
autumn, and the harder and more ripened they are the 
rougher treatment will they stand in winter, and the better 
will they bloom the next year. As your window-sill is three 
feet ten inches by twelve inches, a box three feet eight inches 
long, or even three feet six inches long would do, and ten 
inches wide and ten inches deep, and if that was deemed too 
heavy to move you might have two boxes twenty-one inches 
in length, and nine or ten inches wide, and the same in 
depth. If the roots are very long you may nip off the 
points, but that is of little consequence if you are going to 
put them in a good-sized box. When once established they 
will bloom well in the same boxes for years, all that is re¬ 
quired being the scraping off some surface soil about April, 
and top dressing with rich compost. 
We certainly approve of old florist Pelargoniums, but 
they will do no good under such treatment. They bloom 
best in their second or third year, and onwards to four or 
five, but they must be pruned back in July or August, and 
be re-shifted in a similar or smaller pot in August and Sep¬ 
tember, and be kept growing in a greenhouse or window all 
the winter; but this was all explained a few weeks since. 
Verbenas planted out, plunged out, and young ones 
coming into bloom—which are best for keeping over the 
winter, and how ? 
It is all useless trouble taking up your old Verbenas. 
Experienced hands would manage them well enough; but for 
what purpose the bother, since young plants do so much 
better? Those plunged out, and that have bloomed and 
grown freely, we would just consider a little better, but to 
be discarded unless in some peculiar emergency. Your 
j young plants are the thing, but remove every bloom, and 
top the plants in to make them bushy. We should prefer 
I young plants just struck and hardened off even to them, 
because they would require so much less room, and be big 
enough next spring and summer for anything. Our practice 
is to save a few jiots of cuttings over the winter, and propa¬ 
gate the whole of this tribe in April for planting out. They 
must be kept airy, and moistish rather than dry in winter. 
There is no trouble in a greenhouse ; in a window you must 
take care that the air is not too much dried by fire heat, and 
moisten the leaves. If you have no handlight, Ac., for 
striking young plants, lay several of the points of shoots 
over a pot in August, and you will have nice young plants 
for wintering.] 
MAKING A NEW VINE BORDER. 
“ As my Vines which have been planted fourteen or fifteen 
years have never done well I intend to make a new border, 
and plant some young Vines along with one or two of the 
old ones. Will you be kind enough to give me instructions 
how I am to proceed to make a new border, and also tell 
me what time you think is best for planting Vines, as I find 
some gardeners prefer the spring and others the autumn? 
My vinery is only small. Can you recommend six or seven 
Vines which are good bearers and fine fruit? I fear Tokays 
require more heat, and are better suited for stove heat.”— 
An Amateur Subscriber. 
[You will find much on this subject in the preceding 
volume, and also in others preceding that. Before you re¬ 
plant read what you will find on raising Vines and replanting 
them, and those you keep you cannot commence with too 
early. You say nothing of the position of your border as to 
height or lowness with the surrounding ground, a matter of 
importance, as, if in a low position, we would make the most 
of the new border on the top of the old one. You also say 
nothing of the subsoil, a matter, again, of great moment, 
because, though standing water is ruinous to Vines, many 
subsoils consisting of sand, open gravel, or chalk, are so j 
open that drainage is little required. You would see an 
account lately by Mr. Robson of very thriving Vines, 
though the borders were likely to be overflowed with water 
several times in the year. Success in such a case, in ad¬ 
dition to the texture of the border, was greatly owing, we 
believe, to the open nature of the subsoil. We have seen 
even a clay-like bottom that, from the presence of marl in it, 
could not be made to hold water. There is no simpler mode 
of investigating this than by opening a good-sized hole into 
the subsoil, and seeing if it will hold water after rain. If it 
does so draining will be necessary. The securing against 
stagnant water at the roots for any length of time we con¬ 
sider the first necessary step in Vine culture, and more par¬ 
ticularly if flavour is held in high estimation. This dryness 
secured it matters little how the border slopes, whether 
almost flat, or sloping considerably to the south, though we 
prefer the latter when practicable. We were consulted as to 
a Vine border some years ago, which has answered well. 
The Vines could hardly be in a worse plight, producing few 
bunches, and these ill-coloured, shanked, &c. The owner 
had a strong idea that even these were better than none, 
and could not be made to believe that if he sacrificed one 
season he might have as many Grapes and far better ones 
the second year, and even in the first year if he went to 
the expense of getting large established Vines in pots. The 
old border was almost level, and two feet and a half below j 
the top of the front wall, outside of which the Vines were 
planted. The border was twelve feet wide, and altogether a i 
few inches below the level of the surrounding ground. The j 
surface soil seemed very fair, but had no roots in it. This 
was wheeled into a heap, taking it off into a slope from four 
inches deep at the back to eighteen inches in front. The 
surface of this slope was made smooth.' A drain at the front 
was taken out three feet deeper still, and the baling out of 
water told of one cause of failure. Small drains about 
fifteen inches deep and six inches wide were laid across the i 
border at every eight feet or so. The smooth surface of the 
slope was then covered with from two to three inches of j 
concrete, made by adding a barrowful of lime, seven or 
eight barrowsful of clean gravel, adding enough of water 
to mix them rapidly, and laying it down regularly with a 
shovel. A little road drift was thrown over it, and then it 
was rolled as soon as it would bear it, and was shortly 
smooth and hard on the surface. Eresli soil of a brown, 
loamy, fibry character was obtained from the sides of the 
highway, but, as there was a difficulty in getting the ne¬ 
cessary supply, a good portion of the old border was mixed 
up with it, along with lime rubbish, pieces of charred wood, 
and several barrow-loads of broken bones and pieces of sand¬ 
stone. When made, the front of the border is little higher 
than the surrounding ground, and the back of the border 
is within a few inches of the top of the wall. That is the way 
it stands now, but only about six feet in width was made at 
first, and the remainder was made up in three separate 
years, and with fresh soil, with a few leaves, bones, and lime- 
rubbish alone. One thing is worth noting—the old Vines 
