April  28,  1898. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
375 
PLANTING  VINES. 
This  is  a  goofl  time  for  planting  young  canes,  as  they  now  start 
naturally  into  growth,  almost  always  making  some  leaves  before  pushing 
roots.  In  well-drained  soils,  such  as  calcareous  loams  over  gravel  or  other 
natural  drainage,  expensive  borders  are  often  worse  than  the  ordinary 
staple,  and  though  I  prefer  planting  the  Vines  inside,  there  is  no  question 
of  outside  borders  giving  the  least  trouble  in  respect  of  watering.  Besides, 
I  am  not  convinced  of  the  inside  border  system  being  the  best  for  Vines 
required  to  start  in  March,  and  perfect  their  crops  in  August  and 
September  ;  indeed, 
the  outside  border, 
under  the  conditions 
quoted,has  decidedly 
the  advantage  in 
respect  of  the  best 
possible  supplies  of 
water,  not  any  being 
■equal  in  nutritive 
value  to  that  from 
the  clouds.  But  the 
great  objection  to 
outside  borders,  in 
many  places,  is  the 
bare  appearance  and 
consequent  eyesore 
in  the  estimation  of 
the  proprietor  or 
visitors.  Even  many 
growers  strive  to 
utilise  the  border  for 
certain  things  that 
require  a  sheltered 
situation  or  a  rich 
soil  to  arrive  at 
an  early  or  extra 
degree  of  perfection. 
Laudable  as  this 
may  be  in  intention, 
it  often  means  a 
sorry  appearance  in 
Grapes. 
For  greenhouses 
the  outside  border 
means  a  great  deal 
to  the  proprietors — 
all  the  space  inside 
available  for  plants, 
and  no  danger  of 
ruining  the  Vines 
by  too  much  water 
in  their  resting  sea¬ 
son.  But  the  outside 
border  must  be  kept 
wholly  and  solely 
for  the  Vines,  and 
I  may  mention  that 
a  certain  proprietor 
had  to  cover  his 
Vine  border  with 
flints  from  the  chalk 
formation  in  order 
to  keep  the  gardener 
from  planting  it  with 
prize  Asters.  In 
the  whole  course  of 
my  long  experience 
I  never  saw  such 
a  transformation  in 
growing  Grapes  as 
was  effected  by  the 
flints.  The  Vines, 
lank  in  growth,  loose 
in  bunch,  red  and 
shanked  in  berry, 
produced  in  two 
years  after  the  stone, 
or  rather  pebble 
mulching,  stout 
wood,  leathery  leaves,  compact  clusters,  purple-black  berries,  and  not 
any  shanked.  It  was  merely  a  change  from  prizetaking  with  Asters  to 
“first”  for  Grapes.  The  flints  had  a  sort  of  rockwork-like  appearance 
in  summer,  for  in  winter  the  border  was  mulched  with  short  stable 
manure,  and  in  March  it  was  cleared  off  and  the  stones  raised  and  again 
placed  on  the  surface.  The  rain  soon  washed  them  clean,  and  they  got 
quite  hot  on  sunny  days,  and  on  raising  them  the  Vine  roots  were  revealed 
quite  white  and  active.  Light  top-dressings  could  be  given,  watering  or 
liquid  manure  applied  without  difficulty,  and  the  appearance  was  pleasing 
rather  than  otherwise. 
For  general  purposes  the  borders  may  be  partly  within  and  partly 
outside,  planting  the  Vines  inside  the  house  ;  but  for  early  forcing  and 
for  Muscats  the  borders  are  unquestionably  best  wholly  inside.  If  the 
substratum  be  gravel  or  other  porous  material,  a  good  dressing  of  fresh 
horse  droppings,  a  couple  of  pounds  of  quarter-inch  bones  (with  the  dust 
in),  half  a  pound  of  a  mixture  of  air-slaked  chalk  lime  and  soot  in  equal 
parts  by  measure,  and  half  a  pound  of  double  sulphate  of  potash  and 
magnesia  per  square  yard  may  be  put  on  and  the  ground  trenched,  or 
rather  stirred,  as  in  turning  a  compost  heap,  mixing  as  evenly  as  possible. 
.This  gives  the  best  results  I  have  seen  in  Grapes,  the  top  soil  being 
naturally  a  gravelly  loam,  with  a  substratum  of  calcareous  gravel  with  iron. 
I  If  the  soil  by  nature  be  of  an  unfavourable  character,  it  may  be 
inecessary  to  make  an  excavation,  but  in  such  case  it  is  better  to  keep  the 
border  well  up.  In 
the  case  of  a  wet 
subsoil  the  bottom 
may  be  concreted, 
or  bricks  laid  on 
flat  and  run  with 
cement,  providing 
drains  with  proper 
fall  and  outlet  to 
carry  off  superfluous 
water,  the  ^bottom 
inclining  to  them. 
Rubble  a  foot  thick 
should  be  placed  on 
the  concrete,  9  inches 
of' clear  rubble  and 
3  inches  thickness  of 
old  mortar  rubbish  ; 
24  to  30  inches  depth 
of  border  is  ample. 
Turf  2  \  inches  thick, 
taken  off  old  or  new 
red  sandstone  or 
limestone,  a  good 
friable  loam,  broken 
up  roughly  and 
mixed  with  a  sixth 
part  of  old  mortar 
rubbish,  a  twelfth 
of  wood  ashes  or 
charred  refuse,  and 
a  forty  -  eighth  of 
half-inch  bones  (with 
the  flne  left  in)  forms 
a  suitable  compost. 
It  should  be  put 
together  rather  com¬ 
pactly,  and  there  is 
no  need  to  make  a 
wide  border  ;  one 
4  to  6  feet  wide  will 
be  sufficient  to  com¬ 
mence  with. 
The  Vines,  cut 
back  in  winter  and 
kept  in  a  cool  house, 
or  even  outdoors 
with  the  pots  pro¬ 
tected,  now  have  the 
buds  moving.  Turn 
them  out  of  the 
pots,  remove  every 
particle  of  old  soil, 
even  washing  if  need 
be,  carefully  pre¬ 
serving  the  fibres. 
Spread  the  roots  out 
straight  and  flat,  the 
soil  of  the  border 
having  been  brought 
to  the  required 
height  or  level, 
covering  to  a  depth 
of  3  or  4  inches, 
working  the  soil 
well  amongst  them 
with  the  hand. 
Give  a  good  supply 
of  water  with  the 
“  chill  ”  taken  off,  and  mulch  with  about  an  inch  thickness  of  sweetened 
horse  droppings.  If  the  canes  have  not  been  shortened  do  not  cut  them 
now,  but  remove  the  buds  from  the  upper  portion  down  to  where  fresh 
growths  are  desired  to  issue,  and  cut  away  the  disbudded  part  when  the 
Vines  have  made  some  leaves,  as  there  is  then  no  danger  of  bleeding,  nor 
will  any  take  place  from  rubbing  off  the  buds  after  they  start  into 
growth.  If,  however,  the  buds  are  extracted  with  a  knife,  and  the  wood 
laid  bare,  bleeding  ensues,  greatly  weakening  the  Vines. 
When  the  canes  are  planted  in  an  outside  border  the  exposed  part 
must  be  carefully  wrapped  in  haybands  or  hair  felting,  as  frosts  are  not 
over,  and  the  sap  getting  frozen  may  injure  if  not  kill  the  Vines. 
Besides,  the  exposure  to  sun  does  them  no  good,  but  often  much  harm  ; 
indeed,  the  part  outside  the  house  should  always  be  properly  protected 
Fig.  72. — Boronia  heterophylla. 
