THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Octobeb 20, 1857. 
44 
are now all gone, but it went to the heart of the owner to 
cut them out, so much were even they improvedby the 
drain and reducing the quantity of earth above their rooH 
except when the first six feet width was placed. The i 
ones P have taken full possession, and are as ' t 
be. In addition to mulching in summer, the first-made part 
of the border has already had a top dressing of a couple of 
inches of fresh turfy soil, and the points of the roots are 
already matting it all over, fine old Vine raised by tracin 
its roots from the deep dram and placed abov e the con¬ 
creting has done, if anything, better than the young ones. 
If there had been no stagnant water draining and con¬ 
creting might have been avoided, as the roots once obtained 
or placed near the surface could be encouraged there by 
means of surface dressings and mulchings m summer, and 
a covering in winter. 
Our friend objected to either of these on account of neat¬ 
ness, and hence the concreting. Where these mulchings 
and coverings are no eyesore they, along with surface 
waterings when necessary, will keep the roots near the sur¬ 
face, and therefore under-concreting is less necessary, in 
such circumstances, with the exceptions of a few bones and 
a little lime rubbish, alike to supply calcareous matter and 
keep the soil open, we should prefer the soil to be as simple 
and fresh as possible. Sufficient nourishment can always 
be given by surfacings. Under such treatment \ mes will 
be prolific, and the Grapes well flavoured. If you aim at 
huge bunches and few of them, and parasol leaves, you 
must give greater depth and more rank feeding. If summer 
mulchings and waterings are neglected when they are ne¬ 
cessary the roots toill go down in search of moie moistuie 
than they can get by capillary attraction or evaporation from 
below as it passes them, and thence when they get to an 
extreme depth there will follow strong unripened wood, and 
shanked and but so-and-so-flavoured bunches. 
Time of planting Vines. —This is just a case like the 
poet’s system of government, “ That which is best ad¬ 
ministered is best.” Whatever time a gardener prefeis he 
will make it answer best. We have planted in September, 
October, and almost every month from March to September, 
and care being taken to suit the time and circumstances we 
do not think there is much difference as to results. If we 
have any preference at all we should prefer August, because 
the ground is then so nice and warm, and the leaves on the 
young Vine will require little trouble in shading, and the 
roots will at once, when spread out, take to the new soil. 
Hence on to October we prefer autumn planting, but we 
would keep the soil warmish by a layer of litter, and dryish 
by covering with a sash, an old door, or a cover of some 
sort. The roots then would be slowly progressing all the 
winter, and ready to meet the wants of the bursting buds in 
spring. 
In general circumstances then, just as in other planting, 
autumn is to be preferred, though we have struck plants in 
January, and planted them out in the middle of July, that 
did remarkably well, but a little care in shading and syring¬ 
ing was necessary at first. 
As to kinds there is nothing better for a cool vinery 
than Black Hamburgh and white Royal Muscadine. For 
variety you may have one Golden Hamburgh , and for late 
keeping West's St. Peter's Black. For earliness at the warm¬ 
est end you might have a white Dutch Sweetwater , but you 
must take a little trouble in setting the bloom by brushing 
with a camel-hair pencil, or pulling a dry hand gently over 
them. A Muscat of Alexandria would do also in the same 
place if you did not attempt early forcing.] 
VINE BORDER INSIDE A SPAN-ROOFED 
GREENHOUSE. 
“ I have a span-roofed greenhouse in which I wished, if 
possible, to grow both flowers (principally those which w’ould 
not require the aid of glass in summer) and Grapes. My 
house stands, as nearly as may be, north and south. The 
height in the centre is ten feet, and the sides about five feet. 
It is eighteen feet long and sixteen feet wide, and the 
entrance at the south end, so that the end which faces 
the south would be uninterrupted for growing the Grapes 
if you think the situation, &c., suitable; but, to make it 
clearer, I have drawn a rude plan, which I daresay you will 
understand. I thought that a width of about four feet at 
the end would be a large enough border for the Grapes, and 
it would consequently have the two pipes as bottom heat. 
The interior of the house is a trifle below the level of the 
outside, so that I think the best way would be to make the 
border entirely above the level of the outside, say lour fee 
deep, or would you recommend the border to be sunk below 
the level, and consequently deeper ? 
“ The Vines would then be trained up the wall, and length¬ 
ways along the roof at the top, &c., so leaving room for a 
stage on which to grow the other plants, <fcc., below, if the 
growth of tho Vinos would not too much, impede the light. 
“ Can you recommend Thomson’s retort boiler ? I have 
heard that it is dangerous on account of its being made 
of cast iron. Is it so? and if so, which boiler can you 
recommend as being the safest and best ? 
“ I suppose I could grow some early Cucumbers or Melons 
on the front of the border, which would be unoccupied by 
the Vines; and would you recommend that the pipes, if 
what I propose will answer, should be covered with broken 
rubbish, &c., and the compost for growing the Vines on the 
top of that; or will you be kind enough to give me a hint of 
anything which you think will suit the purpose of An 
Amateur in a small way ? ” 
[You will observe what has been said above on border 
making. You will escape much of the trouble and anxiety 
involved by having your border inside of the house, raised 
above the ground level, and partly heated when required. 
There will be no doubt of your success if you top dress well 
and use manure waterings when required. If your stage is 
not made to suit we would recommend six feet in width 
instead of four, and if the pipes are not placed already w r e 
w T ould have them a little farther from the end. In such 
a house, eighteen feet long and sixteen feet wide, and ten 
feet high at the centre, two pipes of four-inch will do to keep 
all your greenhouse plants safe in winter; but they wiU not 
give enough heat to enable you to do anything like forcing 
your Vines early. You may, therefore, have Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, Primulas, Epacrises, Cinerarias, Camellias, Gera¬ 
niums in winter and spring, and tender annuals in summer 
if you choose. The pipes crossing at the end of the house 
below your Vine border will be an advantage, but the heat 
from them must be thoroughly under control. For this 
purpose a rough chamber of some sort between the pipes 
and the soil would be advisable, and a couple of openings 
left in the wall, with slides a foot square or so, to be opened 
or shut at pleasure; for instance, to be shut when the Vines 
were starting; to be opened when heat w 7 as more wanted in 
the atmosphere of the house than at the roots. Thin stone 
slabs would make the best covering; but brickbats, clinkers, 
&c., placed loosely in flue style, and surmounted by fine 
clean gravel, would do just as well. A little strong lime 
made up with fresh lime, rough sand, road drift, and coal 
ashes put on a couple of inches thick, would make the 
surface pretty well waterproof. The width of a brick left 
out in three or four places at this level in your cross wall to 
keep up the border would not only secure perfect drainage, 
but would enable you to know in a moment the state of 
moisture at the bottom of your border. These openings 
might also be shut at pleasure. A thermometer inclosed 
in a tube w r ould let you know the heat of your soil. Over 
this concrete bottom we would recommend from four to six 
inches of drainage, broken brickbats, pieces of charcoal, and 
then from two to three feet of good soil, fresh fibry brown 
loam, mixed with a little lime rubbish, broken bones, and a 
little leaf mould, enriched as necessary with surfacings and 
manure waterings. We think that three Vines would be amply 
sufficient; one to come along the centre, and one at five feet 
distance on each side; and you could not do better than 
have one Royal Muscadine and two Black Hamburghs. The 
training of the main stems southward will, in addition to 
the confined space for the roots, have a tendency to make 
the growth compact and short-jointed. In case you would 
like to shift the sorts of Vines afterwards it would also be 
desirable to divide your border into three equal spaces, and 
then you could clear out any one of them without injuring 
the others. 
In such a span-roofed house a level platform would be 
your best stage for the centre, and that in some shape, but 
