135 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, June 7, 1850. 
1 forced into leaves and fruit at midwinter, with its roots in a 
plastic medium of soil, sodden and foetid from the decay of animal 
! substances, its roots rotten and decayed. From Vines thus 
situated good fruit is expected; they are regarded as prodigies of 
vigour—they are plethoric and luxuriant in a high degree. They 
have shown a good crop for quantity (but nimium ne crede colon ), 
it does not finish well. The berries are not of a good colour, 
and arc much disfigured by shanking, and, as a result, are most 
unsatisfactory. 
Year after year rolls on, the same treatment is continued, and 
the produce gets much worso instead of better. The Grapes 
cannot bo lower in the scale of quality, and they are condemned. 
The above is a case of frequent occurrence ; and although we 
have seen somo bordors much better made than others, we know 
that there are great errors in general in their formation, and will 
briefly notice them. 
Of the drainage we need say little: it is now admitted to be 
the basis on which the art of culture is founded; it is most 
indispensable. 
The chemical composition of the border is quite secondary to 
its mechanical status ; and, therefore, we deprecate the use of the 
carrion, so strongly recommended by Mr. Roberts, of Raby 
Castle. We know that “ to err is human,” and w hile admitting 
that our cranium is not found to receive the same impressions as 
his, we hope that we do not speak disrespectfully. lie has 
always been the great advocate for burying the carcases of animals, 
cut into very small pieces, in Vine-borders. His Vine-borders 
were the great animal necropolis of that part of the country. 
According to his own account his bunches were monstrously 
large and fine ; but we read lately that they have become “ small 
by degrees, and beautifully less.” 
It is quite certain that the best mode of forming a border for 
Vines is to dispense with the introduction of animal matter, and 
: to form it of sound turf, cut about four inches thick, as the prin¬ 
cipal ingredient, mixing with it bones, either broken or ground, 
and a considerable quantity of mortar rubbish and bricks, with 
some dung which is short and light, but not what is termed 
rotten. Even this compost will become unfit for Vine-roots 
after a few years; and when it does so, instead of calling upon 
Hercules to hear our devout supplications, it is better to push the 
wheel with one’s own shoulder, and to carefully take up all the 
roots, remove the old soil, and introduce fresh compost; per¬ 
forming the operation with great caution, and guarding against 
the exposure of the tender spongioles to the drying influence 
of the weather. September is the best month for this operation; 
and if it is performed with the careful skill which a good gardener 
knows how to exercise, no plant is more tractable than the Vine. 
Even the most aged will soon renew themselves. 
During the last two years we have lifted several of our houses 
of Vines with much success, and the result I have is very 
gratifying. Jt would be too much to expect a great crop the 
first year after the operation; but nothing can be better than 
ours are this the second season after doing it. 
i I thatched the borders a yard in thickness with Fern after 
; remaking the border ; thus retaining within it all the heat accu- 
; undated during the operation. It was done the beginning of 
September, before the foliage was shed; and it thus materially 
assisted in forming fresh spongioles before winter. In no case 
are my borders deeper than two feet six inches, which I consider 
I should be the maximum depth ; having a practice-founded horror 
of borders five feet in depth, from which I have seen removed a 
black unctuous mass like putty, interspersed with black frag¬ 
mentary portions of dead roots, and being very offensive to one’s 
olfactory nerves. 
Believing that it is all-important in growing late Grapes that 
the roots should have a proper climate to vegetate in, and that 
; they should not be saturated by the cold rains of our autumnal 
and winter months, I have planted one house of the latest kinds 
j of Grapes procurable. The selection consists of Lady's Doivlie’s 
Grape, Trentham Blade , the Muscat Hamburgh, Spencer’s new 
Muscat, Muscat of Alexandria, and W est's St. Peter's; and the 
border is made entirely within the house. 
Some of our best gardeners protect their outside borders where 
they have late Grapes, which answers very well; particularly so 
at the late Speaker’s (Lord Eversley), where they use asphalt 
and felt shutters, which cover the whole border. But I think it is 
preferable to make the border within the house in this our very 
uncertain climate. The border must be made, whether within or 
without the house, at much the same expense; and when made 
within, it is at once formed and protected. 
That fatal and mysterious disease the mildow has, of late years, 
been very prevalent; and it has occurred both in small, ill-managed 
vineries and in those of Her Majesty the Queen, wliere everything 
is done in the best and most approved manner. "We have hitherto 
escaped a visit from this insidious plague; but we deem it right 
to take ample precautions against it, and dress our houses and 
their flues about three times a-year with lime and sulphur—and 
this is, as we think, destroying “ the worm i’ the bud.” We 
have one vinery, a sort of pit, peculiarly damp and low—a most 
natural habitat for mildew—but by these means it has escaped it. 
If, in arranging a new Vine-border, the system recommended 
by Clement Hoare of dividing the border into compartments for 
each Vine were carried out, it would be an advantage, allowing 
persons to take out the border of one or two Vines at a time, and 
to renew them with fresh compost. In a large placo having 
several vineries, if two or three Vines were taken up annually, it 
would be the means of keeping the Vines in perfect order and of 
having first-rate Grapes, as there would always bo a majority of 
them in fine bearing condition. 
It is the province of the cultivator to assist Nature rather than 
to violate her laws. If we turn to the Grape-growing countries, 
we find the best Grapes produced from Vines which grow in soils 
of a gravelly or stony nature. A certain degree of moisture is 
necessary, but not anything amounting to wetness; and the Vine 
finds this condensed on the surfaces of 6tones in a happy medium 
for its requirements. 
Let us take a lesson from the great book of Nature in culti¬ 
vating Vines. Let us endeavour to form borders which shall 
remain in an equable state of moisture, and to keep them porous 
and disintegrated, rather than by filling them with garbage or 
dung in a rotten state, to hasten the period when they will become 
sour and effete. 
In the course of long practice one meets with strange incidents 
and anomalies. I remember some old vineries at Althorpc Park, 
Northamptonshire, which for many years produced the finest 
Grapes that could be wished for, ripe by May-day annually. 
The border was made in the old-fashioned wav-—five feet deep, a 
strong adhesive soil. I saw it eventually taken out, and there 
was not a root alive in the soil, but the Vines had instinctively 
formed roots in the front brickwork, which was iir all directions 
interlaced by their tender spongioles ; and these, attracted by the 
heat and moisture of the house, supported as fine a crop of 
Grapes as could be desired. 
It is often to be observed that, in forcing early Grapes, the 
fruit seems to be suddenly struck with paralysis. This arises, I 
opine, from the first-formed leaves and shoots, with the fruit 
which has been fed at the expense of sap stored up in the stem of 
the Vine having exhausted the supply; whilst the roots are, from 
being in a cold medium, incapable of adding a further supply'. 
This occurs, too, at a period of the last swelling, when a large 
supply of food is needed. In the language of professional gar¬ 
deners it is called “ shanking and is, perhaps, the most general 
of any disease among Vines. Vast discussions have been entered 
upon by practical men as to its cause, and remedies have been 
suggested; but I think the only one in such cases is to lift the 
Vines carefully and replant them. There may be mismanagement 
in ventilation, and the admissiou of cold draughts of air may be 
mischievous in their effects ; but we may as well expect to gather 
Figs from Thorns as to have good Grapes from Vines which have 
not good and healthy roots. 
Having occupied my assigned space, 1 conclude this article 
with the hope that it may lead some of your “ country gentle¬ 
men ” to reflect on the subject; and that, ere long, we shall hear 
of Vines so operated upon which have been made to bring forth 
good Grapes for their worthy owners.— Henry Bailey, Nuneham, 
NOTES ON APPLES AND PEARS. 
(Continued from page 111.) 
All persons must remember then- schoolboy days; they, also, 
must remember, that at some period or other of those days, 
what a longing desire they had to ascertain how far they bad 
progressed in their different branches of study; at least to 
know how soon the next holiday fete would be; or such a long¬ 
ing for the time to come, that they would almost count the 
hours to the day when the Midsummer, or Christmas, holidays 
were to begin. Just such a longing had I; butnot for the holiday 
fete this time, or to know how much longer I had to stay at 
those desks, but to see the result of the experiments that had 
