V 



T 



V ! T 



tlicn turniiicr colour more to the fun, and to accelerate i 6. As for manuring their vineyards In all p.uts, wlicn 

 the ripenin°of it. 1 they are in a bearing condition, they practilc it but 



N. B. IFbat is fi-id above in relaticn io the leaving 

 more thuvt one head, and the ordering thereof^ only ^ re- 



fiich 



vineyards en the plains and bills ; 





for in tie mountains, as their f[:ikcs arejl 



i 



Ifc 



-iffix fome zvcod 'ivork to them \ en 'ivhich frame 

 ■■ivo and Jcmctiuics three headSy inaki}}g the fiape 



el 



it may be tropcr to chfcr^je^ 'That all landlords 



of ^vineyards, at letting thern^ ever referve to themfekes 

 the privilege of viftting them at iheir pkafiire, to fee if 

 they are duly dreffed^ and not -more eyes left to a Vine than 

 tlnre ought to be ; for it is poffible^ in three years time, 

 only by pruning, to fpoil the beft vineyard that is, pajl 

 almoft the poiver of art to recover ity and at the fame 

 time make it yield much wine ; for it is but leaving infead 

 of one or t^vo eyes^ five or Jtx ^ and of three or four, 

 eight or nine, and it will be reduced untofo weak and ex- 

 haufted afiate, and the Vines fo run into wood^ that it 



5/? 



foot of fu 



this ;; 



a new fhoot, which, befides the time that will be loft 



fo doing, will hardly after all, prove effcolual.. And 



anner of pernicious pruning the Italians call a lafcia 



term enough. 



nglifljy isqidtfi 



As for the time of dreffing Vines, if it may properly 

 be fo called, there is nothing wherein thofe people 



"differ more, fome performing it immediately after the 



'6rapes are gathered, as in Carignano and Val d'Ar- 



no \ others do it at all times, as their conveniency 



permits, and if the feafon is mild and open (leaving 



- their youngeft Vines till the laft,) from November to 

 -March ; and in Chianti, as the region is colder, and 



^their Vines late to move, they do it late in the month 

 of March, and even to the beginning of April; others 

 again do it at twice, in Noyernber, when they leave 

 an eye extraordinary, and in March they cut off that 

 extraordinary eye, which laft method feenis to be the 

 6eft; though, to have cuttings for a n^w planta- 

 tion, it can only properly be done in February or 



March. -^-^^j^r^.^^-;^;.:^ ^Siry:t-rr ir;: '•: :: o: l:i'Xhi} ^ri 



-Artofowirig in theirr'vine^rds, they alfo differ as 

 much! in Chianti they leave a fpace of about threp 

 feet from their Vines, from thence to the low wall, 

 many fow Wheat -, and though the foil feems to be 

 little elfe but ftones, and fuch as only can be worked 

 .by a mattock, yet it bears prodigious crops, thirteen 

 or twenty for one. Others again, in that fpace, will 

 only fow the low forts of Kidney-beans, Lentils, and 

 fuch low plants, and others again will not fow any, 

 Ithe ieaft thing at all, as in the general they do not in 

 the vineyards on the hills, but in the plains, after the 

 heads of their Vines are rifen fo high, as to be higher 

 than the tops of Beans, they make no difficulty be- 

 tween every row of Vines, to fow a row of them, as 

 the moft fcrupulous do nt>t, to fow late in April a 

 row of low Kidney-beans ; whilft fome' of late, hy- 

 ing two rows of Vines into one, whereof with llrong 

 ftakes and canes they make a fort of efpaliers^ and in 

 the middle, (that is between row and row,) being 

 near four feet from each, plant a row of Artichokes, 

 which they fay, being well dug in their proper feafons. 



more good than harm. r ^ ■ 



As for the feafon of digging their vineyards, they all 



ao-ree that the later it is done in the year, the better 

 it is i wherefore, in the places where they fow no- 

 thino-, they let that work alone till the latter end of 

 April, or beginning of May, when according to the 

 nature of the ground, they do it with a fpade or mat- 

 tock. And again, the more efpecially to kill the 

 weeds, and forward the ripening of the plants, they 

 ftir it with a flrong hoe or mattock, and when they 

 canj with aTp^de in the dog days j but in fo doing 

 they take a moft particular care that they touch not 

 any of the roots* of the Vines, for that, if it dd not 



t 

 I 



I 



i 



once in five or fix years, when tliey oj)ca the earth 

 about the roots, and taking away the Imall ones, 

 which they may have made towards the fupcrficies, 





or or 



they throw in a handful or two of {hccp: 

 that of goats or deer, for if any of thcic are noteafily 

 or in fufficient quantity to be had, then of parboiled 

 Lupines, which, although agreeable to the Vine, 

 yet being of little fubftance, mud be the oftcncr re- 

 peated, every three years at Ieaft, when thiCy cover it 

 again -, and this they perform in the months of Odobcr 

 and jSTovember, that the winter rains fallin.g thereon, 

 may make it defcend to the utmoft fibres of the roots, ■ 

 and afford them nourilkment. 



y. The feafon for gathering the Grapes, and making 

 the vintage, is very uncertain, depending upon the 

 weather that has been the preceding fpring and lum- 

 mer, which makes it fooner or later fifteen or twenty 

 days in Chianti. When the feafon has been good, 

 they begin to cut their Grapes about Michaelmas, 

 and in the plains a week or ten days fooner. In 

 this they every where govern thcmfelves according 

 to the ripenefs of their Grapes, and the profpect of 

 tlie weather, aiming to have a perfect dry feafon to 

 do it in: 



8. The Grapes being of a due ripenefs, and the 

 weather warm and drv, as foon as the fun or wind 

 has dried up the dew that was on them, they cut them 

 and put them into piggins, and carry them, if at 'a 

 . diftance, on mules, or if near, between two men, to 

 the wine vat, and then, either bruifing them to mafli 

 in the faid piggins with a club, throw them dire6l!y 

 tftefein, or elfe into a thing refembling a very large 

 , hopper, with a grate lengthwife ; then boards being 

 placed^over the .vat, a lad with his feet treads them 

 .out, the juice, hulks, ftones, and ftalks all pafllng 

 through the grate into the vat, and fo they continue 

 to do till the vat (which ufuallycont;ains from foi?rto 

 five tons, fometimes eight, teq^ nay, as far as fifteen 

 px^Xw^niy in fp5nelarg)?- vineyards,, i;\ which. there are 



foinetimq/eyei;^ is fyll, when immediate- 



/ly, or fometunes in a few hours before they fill it, ic 

 will fet a boiling;, which raifes the huilcs, ftalks, and 

 ftones to the top, and thefe make a thick cruft, and 

 thus it continues boiling for many days, more or lefs, 

 according to the ftrength of it, till it be fit to be drawn 

 off*, which is to bediltinguifhed by the palate, where- 

 in the greateft ikill in making wine confifts. The low 

 wines of the plains are ready in about ten days, thofe. 

 of the hills in about fifteen, of the mountains of Chi- 

 anti eighteen or twenty, and fometimes more •, in the 

 .hafteiijing or retarding whereof the weather has fome 

 fliare, fo that when they are near ready, they tafte 

 them every eight hours. • 



N. B. The more the wines boily the drier they will ke, 

 the colour deeper, and . the lefs^ the fveeter and paler -, 

 and what is faid above^ is to be underftocd of red wines ^ 

 which arethejhief produce of this country, zvhilft to 

 , mcike their Jirong white wines or mufcadines^ they gather 



their Grapes carefully, and lay them three or four days or 



more in the fun^ tjxking care to carry them within doors ^ 

 or under fhehers^ in the night time^ that fo no dew may 



fall on them. 



And when they are put into the vaty they let them boil 

 but little^ five or fix days at moft^ and then put them into 

 the cafky fhifting them from one cafic to another, twice cr 

 thrice to make them become fine \ and for the Verdea cr 

 White Florence^ as it is called^ they draw it off from the 

 vat almofi as foon as it begins to boily cindhas raifed the 

 crufi^ and then letting it boil in the cafi into which they 

 have drawn it\ thirty-fix hours, or at 7noft two days, they 



fhift it into another^ and in a few hours into a third and 

 fourth, to prevent and check the fermentation, which gives 



it the fweetnefs it has ; hut then it is never pcrfetlly fint, 



efpecially 





though fome people both in Italy and Englai 



■ among the ivomen^ are very fond of it. 



■ N. 'B. Thofe Grapes at the end of the bunches are weaker 



'kill them, would at Ieaft' "make them wither, and : in quality y as well as lefs ripe, than thcfe jhat grow 



fpoil their frui^t 





- * ' - * 





t - •■ 



> 



I ' 



t i 



Higher to the ftalky and therefore fome extreme curious 





2 



f'-^ 



perfcnSy 



