342 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDE  HER. 
April  Is,  1^98. 
NOTES  ON  VINE  GROWING. 
I  have  read  with  considerable  interest  Mr.  David  Thomson’* 
notes,  “Episodes  on  Yine  Growing”  (page  222)  ;  but  there  seems 
to  me  to  be  an  important  omission  respecting  the  soil  used  for  the 
borders  “  that  were  trodden  nearly  as  hard  or  firm  as  a  road.”  Mr. 
Thomson  gives  us  no  idea  of  the  texture  of  the  soil  or  of  its 
mechanical  nature.  I  presume  that  it  does  not  contain  a  large 
amount  of  clay,  but,  on  the  contrary,  is  of  an  open,  porous  nature 
that  does  not  run  together  under  the  treatment  he  there  describes, 
else  the  Vines  would  not  have  continued  so  long  in  such  a  satis¬ 
factory  condition  as  they  have  done.  I  think  it  is  a  pity  when 
such  noteB  are  written,  especially  by  such  an  authority  as  Mr. 
Thomson,  that  more  is  not  said  regarding  the  nature  of  the  soil* 
used,  because  the  instructions  are  apt  to  mislead  those  who  are 
less  experienced  into  errors,  which  might  prove  a  source  of  trouble 
to  them  after  the  labour  and  expense  in  forming  borders  as  there 
described. 
Knowing  as  I  do  from  long  experience,  and  having  had  to  deal 
with  soils  of  very  different  and  opposite  textures,  I  should  say  that 
;t  would  be  a  fatal  error  to  put  some  soils  together  in  the  manner 
described  by  Mr.  Thomson.  Neither  air  nor  heat  would  penetrate 
the  soil  I  had  to  deal  with  in  Yorkshire  under  such  conditions  ; 
water  might,  and  there  it  would  stay  ;  keep  out  the  other  equally 
important  elements  and  every  root  would  die.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  soil  I  am  living  on  now,  which  rests  on  a  deep  bed  of  gravel, 
can  scarcely  be  trodden  too  much.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  nature 
of  the  Yorkshire  soil  of  the  neighbourhood  in  which  1  resided,  and 
consequently  with  which  I  had  to  deal,  a  ditch  in  one  of  my 
employer’s  field*  had  been  cleared  out  about  2  feet  deep,  and  a 
portion  of  the  soil  that  was  dug  out  in  forming  the  ditch  was  put 
into  a  heap  ;  it  was  black  in  colour  and  of  so  tenacious  a  nature 
that  if  a  lump  were  held  up  as  high  as  one’s  head  it  would  drop 
like  a  lump  of  putty,  and  unless  quite  dry  it  would  not  break. 
Thistles  luxuriated  in  it,  Beans  and  Oats  thrived  well,  bat  Potatoes 
and  Jerusalem  Artichokes  were  not  satisfactory.  But  for  Melon 
growing  it  was  superior  to  any  I  have  met  with,  for  it  would  grow 
them  to  perfection,  and  that  is  just  what  it  did  do.  The  soil  was 
carted  directly  from  the  heap  to  the  Melon  houses,  nothing  being 
added  bat  a  portion  of  old  mortar,  and  there  was  no  difficulty  in 
getting  two  good  crops  of  fruit  from  one  stock  of  plants.  The  *oil 
was  not  broken  up  in  any  way,  but  put  into  the  border  just  as  it 
came  from  the  field,  and  it  was  very  interesting  to  w&tch  how  the 
tiny  white  roots  filled  those  hard  lumps  of  black  earth  until  they 
were  white  through  with  them.  I  wish  I  could  meet  with  such  a 
soil  now  for  the  same  purpose. 
I  well  remember  an  old  gentleman,  a  neighbour  of  my 
employer’s,  coming  over  to  see  the  garden  one  day  during  the  time 
the  family  was  from  home,  who  professed  to  be  a  big  man  at 
Melon,  Strawberry,  and  other  fruit  culture.  When  he  went  into 
the  Melon  house  he  seemed  to  be  disappointed  ;  he  bad  come  six 
miles  to  see  mine  in  order  to  compare  results  with  his  own. 
“What!”  he  said,  “no  Melons!  Djn’t  you  grow  them  now? 
You  used  to  grow  them  well.”  I  had  to  tell  him  that  now  the 
familv  was  away  there  was  no  demand  for  them,  that  Cucumbers 
and  Tomatoes  sold  much  better  than  Melons.  I  could  dispose  of 
plenty  of  these,  and  each  year  made  over  £10  of  my  Cucumbers 
and  from  £6  to  £7  10s.  of  the  Tomatoes. 
Such  then  was  the  nature  of  most  of  the  soil  on  my  employer’s 
estate,  and  although  the  soil  for  the  Vines  was  not  taken  from  that 
field  but  one  above  it,  it  was  of  a  similar  nature,  and  ran  together  in  a 
short  time  unless  counteracting  materials  were  liberally  supplied  to 
prevent  it.  To  tread  such  a  soil  would  be  to  court  failure,  for 
more  than  half  the  crop  would  come  down  through  shanking, 
especially  if  a  little  too  much  water  were  applied.  My  neighbour 
— who  lived  only  a  mile  distant  and  who  was  a  thoroughly 
successful  cultivator  of  both  Vines  and  Peaches — had  the  same 
kind  of  aoil  to  deal  with.  Pie  told  me,  on  first  forming  hi* 
acquaintance,  that  the  best  preventive  to  shanking  in  that  soil  was 
to  keep  the  Vines  dry  at  the  roots,  and  give  them  plenty  of  heat 
and  air.  This  I  found  to  be  most  effectual.  The  inside  portions 
of  the  border*  received  very  little  water  after  the  stoning  period, 
and  the  borders  used  to  crack  a  good  deal.  These  cracks  were 
easily  filled  up  by  raking  a  little  fine  dry  soil  over  them. 
The  soil  I  have  to  deal  with  to-day,  which  rests  on  deep  gravel 
beds  and  consequently  contains  much  gravel  in  itself,  is  so  porous 
and  open  that  too  much  treading  and  water  in  reason  cannot  well 
be  applied,  except  the  danger  of  the  latter  washing  away  and 
carrying  out  of  the  soil  some  of  its  most  valuable  substances,  9uch 
as  “  the  chlorides  and  nitrate  of  sodium  and  calcium  (lime),  and  to 
a  less  degree  the  sulphate  of  sodium  and  calcium.  The  most 
important  of  these  are  the  nitrates — nitrate  of  soda  and  nitrate  of 
lime,  as  they  are  commonly  termed.” — ( Frean ).  I  have  shifted  over 
sixty  cartloads  this  winter  in  renovating  Pear  tree  borders,  and  the 
men  were  not  afraid  to  tread  the  soil  as  it  was  put  in  to  fill  up  the 
borders.  But  with  the  Editor’s  permission  I  will  give  a  short  note 
on  Pears  at  some  future  time,  giving  the  names  of  the  varieties 
grown,  and  how  they  behaved  in  a  gravelly  soil  in  1894  and  1895. 
[Granted. — Ed.] 
The  conditions  essential  to  healthy  root  action  are  that  “  the 
soil  be  neither  unduly  loose  nor  unduly  compact ;  its  temperature 
neither  too  high  nor  too  low  ;  its  texture  permeated  with  air  and 
moist,  but  not  sodden.”  “  It  is  found  by  careful  experiment,  as  well 
as  by  the  coarser  operations  of  tillage  and  drainage,  that  the 
mechanical  nature  of  the  soil,  and  its  power  of  absorbing  and 
retaining  water,  are  in  most  cases  of  much  greater  importance  than 
its  chemical  composition,  and  hence  while  the  latter  point  is  not 
to  be  overlooked,  nor  the  agency  of  manures  regarded  as  by  any 
means  unimportant,  yet  these  are  in  most  cases  secondary  to  the 
physical  condition  of  the  soil.  The  delicate  nature  of  the  root 
fibres,  their  marvellous  powers  of  sensation  and  movement,  also 
illustrates  this,  and  »hows  the  necessity  for  a  proper  relation 
between  the  nature  of  the  roots  and  the  porosity  of  the  soil,  its 
temperature,  and  power  of  absorbing  water  and  various  gases,  such 
as  ammonia.  The  care  exercised  by  the  gardener  in  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  well  drained  porous  Vine  borders,  and  in  the  selection  of 
appropriate  potting  soil  according  to  the  nature  of  the  plant  and 
the  characters  of  its  roots,  is  thus  abundantly  justified.  So,  too, 
the  character  of  root  growth  and  the  amount  of  root  activity 
largely  depends  on  the  temperature  and  moisture  of  the  soil.  A 
hot,  relatively  dry  soil  tends  to  promote  succulent  growth  ;  the 
plant,  under  such  circumstances,  is  under  the  necessity  of  storing 
water,  and  those  that  by  peculiarities  of  structure  resulting  from 
hereditary  endowment  can  do  this  will  be  placed  at  an  advantage. 
“  A  porous,  moist,  warm  soil  is  the  most  favourable  for  the 
development  of  fibrous  roots  and  root  hairs,  the  actual  amount 
of  heat,  of  course,  varying  according  to  different  plants.  A  hot  or 
waterlogged  soil  would  cause  the  root  fibres  to  decay.  A  cold  one 
would  either  not  allow  of  their  formation,  or,  if  formed,  would 
offer  such  obstacles  to  their  penetration  that  they  would  be  of  little 
value  and  gradually  dwindle.  The  power,  however,  that  roots  have, 
under  such  circumstances,  of  extending  themselves  for  long  dis¬ 
tances  in  search  of  a  more  propitious  state  of  things  is  one  of  their 
noteworthy  properties.” — {Masters'). 
“  The  Grape  Vine  is  a  remarkably  free-growing  plant,  and  is 
found  in  a  state  of  great  luxariance  under  many  very  opposite  con¬ 
ditions,  and  in  soils  of  a  widely  different  character.  The  consistency 
of  the  soil,  its  mechanical  composition,  so  to  speak,  appears  to  be 
of  far  more  importance  than  the  actual  ingredients  themselves  of 
which  it  may  be  composed.  For  example,  I  know  of  Vines  doing 
remark ibly  well  on  very  calcareous  soils,  on  deep  alluvial  loams,  on 
very  shallow  soils,  where  the  roots  penetrate  into  the  fissures  of 
the  rocks  in  search  of  food,  as  well  as  in  beds  of  the  richest  manure. 
The  Vine,  however,  is  never  found  to  succeed  in  wet,  clayey, 
tenacious  soils  ;  a  certain  amount  of  aeration  and  porosity  seems  to 
be  an  absolute  necessity,  with  an  abundance  of  water  at  certain 
seasons.  From  these  general  principles,  therefore,  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  is  not  difficult  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the  kind  of  soil 
best  suited  for  the  cultivation  of  the  Vine,  aDd  that  the  formation 
of  a  Vine  border  is  a  task,  the  carrying  out  of  which  does  not 
require  any  very  great  skill.” — {Barron).  True,  when  all  these 
important  details  are  taken  into  consideration,  and  others  of  a 
local  nature  which  can  only  be  determined  on  the  spot  and  acted 
on  with  due  thought  and  discretion.  Always  bear  in  mind  “  that 
plants  do  not  feed  on  soil  any  more  than  bees  feed  on  flowers. 
Bees  take  the  honey  and  leave  the  flowers,  and  crops  take  what  is 
honey  to  them  out  of  the  soil-food  and  leave  the  vessel — the  earth 
— that  contain*  it.” — {Wright). 
For  the  production  of  early  Grapes  I  should  prefer  a  soil  of  a 
porou*,  open  nature,  and  not  too  rich  ;  but  for  midseason  and  late 
Grapes,  especially  for  the  stronger  growers,  soil  of  a  more  sub¬ 
stantial  nature.  I  know  gardens  situated  only  a  short  distance 
from  each  other,  the  one  having  a  light  soil,  the  other  heavy  and 
retentive  loam,  and  the  former  produces  crops  three  weeks  earlier 
than  the  latter,  notwithstanding  their  both  being  under  exactly 
similar  climatic  conditions. 
I  have  had  Vines  under  my  care  that  have  lost  nearly  every  root 
by  some  mysterious  cause  or  other  that  I  was  never  able  to  find  out, 
but  by  careful  manipulation  have  induced  them  to  pat  forth  new 
roots  above  the  surface  that  eventually  took  the  place  of  the  decayed 
ones,  and  the  Vines  thrived  better  on  them  than  on  their  first  roots. 
Take  another  example.  I  had  two  Vines  in  one  of  my  best 
vineries  planted  in  an  outside  border  ;  the  top  of  the  border  was 
within  one  brick  thick  of  the  wall  plate,  one  brick  being  lefc  out 
of  the  top  course  to  allow  each  Vine  to  pass  through,  consequently 
there  was  only  about  6  inches  of  stem  between  the  top  of  the 
border  and  the  inside  of  the  wall  plate.  The  stems  were  half  as 
thick  as  my  arm,  and  the  Vines  were  growing  luxuriantly  at  the 
