All the world, at least all that part of the gardening world which inhabits Great Britain, has heard of a surprising Vine at Hampton Court. Everybody goes to see it at least once in his life; it is a separate and special object in the grounds of the old palace, kept under lock and key, as it well may be, unless its fruit is abandoned to the refreshment of her Majesty's loyal subjects. To account for the immense crops of Grapes borne by this Vine, and for its vigorous old age, it has been stated that its roots are in an ancient sewer, where they find abundance of the rich materials, out of which the Vine prepares sugar and acid, and color and fragancc, and all that gives deliciousness to its fruit. In 1837 it was reported to have borne 800 lbs. of fruit, upon a roof consisting of 2304 square feet.

It is a mistake however to regard this famous Vine as the most remarkable specimen of the kind in Great Britain. Within a few miles of it may be found one yet more striking. In the royal garden of what was once Cumberland Lodge, near Windsor, there stands a solitary Vinery, sole relic of departed greatness, concerning which we have the following account from an experienced Grape-grower who lately visited it.

"We have been astonished, much more than instructed, by the numerous systems which have of late years appeared for Grape-growing; when we thought that we had found a roc's egg, something suddenly appeared to dim our vision. The object fled, our faith vanished, and we found ourselves again where we were. One the second, as obstructing the action of the sun on the border. Another gentleman insisted upon robbing the dog kennel, and feeding Vines upon horseflesh, animal manure being more potent than vegetable. Nevertheless, to our astonishment, an experienced cultivator plants his Vines in his roadway, formed of clinkers, brickbats, and similar rubbish, and ripens most satisfactorily two crops of Grapes in a season. Another gentleman, who set himself up as a great authority, insisted-~in fact, wrote a book about it - that good grapes could only be grown by having their roots cemented in a brick pillar. Mystery after mystery presents itself, and not the least appears when we stumble upon the great Vine at Cumberland Lodge. This monster, loaded with 2000 large bunches of Grapes, as black as Damsons, must surely have had some leviathan 'practical' to cook his border. Let us read its history. Some 50 years ago it was found in a small Cucumber pit.

The plant seemed to like its situation, for it soon outgrew this limited abode. It became necessary to extend the shelter; and this has been twice done, until the pit, for it can hardly be called a house, is 138 feet long, and 16 feet wide. Incredible as it may appear, the stem of this Vine measures 2 feet 9 inches in circumference; and when we saw it about a month ago, this immense crop was rips, the bunches were large, so were the berries; besides, they were black, not brown, and the foliage as vigorous and green as in June. The entire aspect of this house presented a perfect and most instructive whole. There were no brown bunches here and black ones there - no missing at one end of the rafter, and clustering and huddling at the other. It would, in fact, have defied mechanical skill to have distributed the bunches with greater regularity. The size of the bunches, likewise, was nearly uniform - not a shaggy one here ana a monster there; for, as we find Stilton cheeses, so these were nearly of one weight and make.

"Now we come to the great problem which is to resolve all this wonderful development - the border; and, by Mr. Ingram's kindness, we were permitted to dig several holes, to ascertain its composition, its mechanical construction, and to ponder upon the wisdom and fore-sight of some great royal gardener. We did for a moment entertain the idea that one of the craft, adorned with a blue apron, bearing mysterious wisdom in his countenance, and practice in his whole deportment, must have been concerned in an undertaking which has produced such marvellous results. We entered upon our task, then, under the impression of revealing to the world a grand secret, and so we shall. Without difficulty or serious obstruction we readily got through 2 feet of common garden soil; neither encountering a brickbat nor a clinker, a horse's leg nor a bullock's

2 feet of ordinary soil we came upon blue clay! - with a portion of sand intermixed with it. Such clay; indeed, as we should be glad to run against, were we about to form a pond and in want or puddle!!"

It is 12 years since we last saw this plant, but it then promised to become all that it is now described to be; the circumstances under which it grew are fresh in our recollection, and entirely confirm our correspondent's description; a mass of the gravel and clay over which it grows is before us, and is too hard to be broken by the hands; a sample of its beautiful fruit was exhibited at the last meeting of the Horticultural Society in Regent-street, and wholly answered to the character just given of it.

Here, then, a Vine, whose roots are not in a sewer or any such place, but in ordinary garden ground, resting on a coarse hard gravelly clay, covers about the same space as its celebrated rival, and bears twice as many Grapes, of the highest excellence. Surely we have in this a striking example of the folly of spending large sums in preparing vast borders out of costly materials, of which the Vine has no real need. No doubt the Vine border at Cumberland Lodge was prepared originally from good materials, such as our predecessors thought suitable to its nature; and that amount of preparation was necessary, in order to enable it to establish itself securely in the earth. But for this a small quantity of materials was sufficient; and, once established in soil that it likes, the Vine needs little further care. Its chief desire is to have a warm, light, dry, shallow border, and that is precisely what it gets at Cumberland Lodge. - Gardeners? Chronicle,