ume of air than a lean-to of the same width, and this is of much importance in vine-culture. In large airy houses grapes are better flavoured, are more fleshy, and consequently hang better through the winter. After considerable experience in grape-growing in lean-to houses, ranging from 6 feet wide to what may be termed large airy vineries, I unhesitatingly recommend that they be built large and roomy. Besides the reasons already named, large vineries can be fired to a given temperature more steadily than small ones, because a large volume of air is not so easily influenced by external variations of temperature, just the same as a thin wedge of iron is sooner heated and sooner cooled than a thick one. Fig. 7 represents a span-roofed vinery of the dimensions I recommend for ripening grapes late in summer and autumn to hang through the winter. It will be observed that a drain runs in the draining material from the front to the back of the border in fig. 6, terminating in an upright shaft just below the hotwater pipes at the back of the vinery and at the front of the outside border, thus communicating with the external atmosphere and that of the vinery.

These drains should be constructed 6 feet apart the whole length of the border, and be open jointed, so that the air from them can find its way right and left among the open rubble, which should form the lower stratum of the drainage. This is for the purpose of what has been termed aeration, which means the exposure of the soil to the air from under-currents. No doubt, for summer forcing, it is beneficial, especially in wet climates, to open the mouths of the upright shafts in hot sunny weather, thus admitting warm air underneath the border.

It is a very common error to fix the wires to which

the vines are tied too near the glass; they should be not less than 16 inches from the glass, to allow a free circulation of air between it and the foliage. It is scarcely necessary to point out the evil of having the foliage in close contact with the glass. The wires

should be fixed at 1 foot apart. Moisture in the atmosphere should be provided for in all vineries. See page 7, where there is described, in connection with pineries, the method I think best.

DRAINAGE.

The first thing that should be thought of and most effectively secured in the making of borders is drainage; for however great the skill otherwise brought to bear on the after-management of the vine, first-rate results need not be looked for if the roots are subject to stagnant water. One of the most important points in successful grape-growing, is the preservation in winter of the young roots made in summer, which is impossible if the border is subject to stagnant water. Of course the extent and character of the drainage necessary have to be determined by the position of the vinery, the nature of the subsoil, and to some extent by the average amount of rain which is peculiar to the district. The amount of drainage necessary on the retentive clay of such as Middlesex, or in the lower ward of Lanarkshire, the Dumfries or Argyle coasts, where so much rain falls, would be superfluous on the rocks of some parts of Somerset, or on the generally dry soils of East Lothian. By these conditions should also be decided to what extent borders should be elevated above the natural ground-level.

In preparing the site and drainage on damp reten

tive subsoils, let all the natural soil be excavated to the depth of 4 feet from the bottom of the arches or lintels at the front of the vinery, and, supposing that the outside border is to be 20 feet wide, give it a slope of 18 inches to the extremity of the border. The site for the inside border should be sloped to the same extent, upwards in the case of lean-to house, to the back wall. Lay down a layer of concrete, 3 to 4 inches thick, over the whole site of the border. Run a main drain parallel with the border at its extreme front, and 6 inches below the lowest level of the concrete. In order to make sure of the most perfect drainage, lay tile-drains at right angles with this main drain, up to the back of the vinery, at every 8 feet. Over the whole surface of the concrete, and covering the tile - drains, spread a layer of broken bricks, road - metal, or round gravel with all sand sifted out of it, to the depth of 8 inches. Finish off with a sprinkling of smaller gravel, and a turf, grassy side downwards, over. the whole surface. The site is thus ready for the border. The slope of the site, and soil, drains, &c., can be seen at a glance in fig. 7.

On what may be termed healthy gravelly subsoils in dry localities, where water neither stands nor rises, such extra care in drainage is not absolutely necessary. But where there is the least chance of there not being a ready and immediate escape for water, no hesitation should ever be allowed as to the necessity of draining as has been directed. I have never seen vines do well in wet, and as a consequence cold borders, and know of instances where wet and unproductive borders have been rendered fruitful by perfect drainage. Although the vine in a growing state requires much

moisture, it will not put up with stagnant water at any season.

BORDERS-THEIR COMPOSITION.

In forming borders for the cultivation of grapes, greater regard should be directed towards the maintenance of vines in such a condition as is likely to yield satisfactory crops for a lengthened period of time, than to the production of larger bunches with perhaps less certainty for a few years, to be followed by a general and rapid decline in the constitution of the vines, and, as a necessary consequence, in the amount and quality of the crops they bear. That such different results are to a very great extent indeed dependent on the mechanical and manurial state of the soil, is a fact that cannot fail to have become perfectly obvious to those who have studied the growth of the vine in borders of opposite characters and composition. That the vine will continue in a healthy bearing state for a greater length of time under favourable circumstances than almost any other fruit-bearing plant or tree, is abundantly proved by the fact that of many of the same varieties that are cultivated in this country, there are in France and Italy whole vineyards, now in full bearing, which were in the same condition three centuries ago. And in this country there are instances of vines now bearing well in vineries that were planted some eighty, and others more than a hundred, years ago. I have inspected excellent crops of grapes on vines at Dumfries House, in Ayrshire, which, I was told, can be traced back one hundred and forty-five years. At Speddoch, in Dumfriesshire, the seat of Gilchrist Clark, Esq., there is a