of his rays. These, darting nearly perpendicularly on the foliage of a vine, while the dew yet. remains, and its beautiful crystal drops hang suspended, as it were, by magic to the angular extremities of the leaves, seem to stimulate the vital energies of the plant in an extraordinary degree, and to excite them to a vigorous exercise of all the important functions appertaining to vegetable life.

The next best aspects are those which follow in succession from south-east to south. An aspect due south is undoubtedly a very good one, but its exposure to those strong winds which so frequently blow from the south-west, forms a great drawback to its excellence. The remaining aspects are those which range successively from due south to due west. These are all good ones, provided they are sheltered, or partially so, from the destructive effects of the high winds abovementioned. North of the western point, the maturation of the wood and fruit of the vine becomes uncertain; nevertheless, tolerably good grapes may be grown on the surface of a wall, having an aspect not farther north than west by north. There is however another aspect that is north of the eastern point of the horizon, which is a very good one indeed, and that is east by north. On a wall facing this point, the sun shines till about eleven o'clock in the morning. I have,

for many years past, brought several sorts of grapes, including the Black Hamburgh, to great perfection in this aspect. North of this point, however, the solar rays are not sufficiently powerful to mature either the wood or fruit of the vine.

CHAPTER V.

ON SOIL.

THE natural soil which is most congenial to the growth of the vine, and to the perfection of its fruit in this country, is a light, rich, sandy loam, not more than eighteen inches in depth, on a dry bottom of gravel, stones, or rocks.

No sub-soil can possess too great a quantity of these materials for the roots of the vine, which run with eagerness into all the clefts, crevices, and openings, in which such sub-soils abound. In these dry and warm situations, the fibrous extremities, pushing themselves with the greatest avidity, and continually branching out in every possible direction, lie secure from that excess of moisture which frequently accumulates in more compact soils; and, clinging like ivy round the porous surfaces of their retreats, extract therefrom a species of food, more nourishing than that obtained by them under any other circumstances whatever.

One of the principal causes of grapes not ripening well on open walls in this country, is the great depth of mould in which the roots of vines are suffered to run, which, enticing them

to penetrate in search of food below the influence of the sun's rays, supplies them with too great a quantity of moisture; vegetation is thereby carried on till late in the summer, in consequence of which, the ripening process does not commence till the declination of the sun becomes too rapid to afford a sufficiency of solar heat to perfect the fruit.

To prevent this, the sub-soil should be composed of dry materials. It is almost impossible, indeed, to make a vine border of materials that shall be too dry or porous. It is not mere earth that the roots require to come in contact with, to induce growth and extension, but air also, which is as necessary to them, as to the leaves and branches. The excrementitious matter discharged from the roots of a vine is very great, and if this be given out in a soil that is close and adhesive, and through which the action of the solar rays is feeble, the air in the neighbourhood of the roots quickly becomes deleterious, and a languid and diseased vegetation immediately follows. But if the roots grow in a soil composed of dry materials, mixed together in such a manner as to possess a series of cavities and interstices, into which the sun's rays can enter with freedom, and there exert their full power; the air in which the roots perform their functions, becomes warmed and purified, they absorb their food in a medium which dissipates

their secretions, and a healthy and vigorous vegetation is the never-failing consequence.

The roots of every plant have a particular temperature in which they thrive best, and that which those of the vine delight in most, is generated in a greater degree in stony or rocky soils, than in any other. This is easily accounted for from the fact that soils of this description being quickly rendered dry by evaporation, are always free from that excess of moisture which is so injurious to the growth of the vine.

It may hence be inferred, that vines will not flourish in a cold wet soil, nor in one composed of a stiff heavy clay. Grapes produced on vines planted in such soils, scarcely ever ripen well, and if so, never possess the flavour of those grown on vines planted in a dry soil. Vines may be seen in all parts of the country, the fruit on which looks well during the early part of the season, but when the ripening period arrives, the berries remain green and hard, or otherwise they shrivel and decay. These results are sure to be produced, when the roots grow in a soil that is too wet and adhesive, and into which the sun and air cannot freely penetrate.

All borders, therefore, made expressly for the reception of vines, ought to be composed of a sufficient quantity of dry materials, such as stones; brickbats, broken moderately small; lumps of old mortar; broken pottery; oyster shells; &c. &c.