1 



be there, would never be filled ; arid this is the fea- 

 fon thac a middle plant (hould every year be fetinthe 

 empty places, to the end that they may be filled out 

 wich the hyers. 



■ ^ ■- . 



r 



0/ ^be lime and diferenl manners of planting a vineyard, 



■ 



Lands being cf difterent natures, there ought alfo to 

 be different times of planting, - 

 In lands that are Tandy, or full of flints," the bottom 

 or loil of which -does not retain the water, one may 

 piant and interplant after the feverity of the winter, 

 wirhouc being under any apprehenfion of the plants 



(>! 



not lucceeding , 



becaufe thef^ 



^ 



V 



forts of lands, never 

 retaining the v;ater, 'are always wholefome at the 



bottom i and therefore the plants fet in them will 

 fuccced. . . 



'• * ^ . i , \9m i - i 



They do not ordinarily plant in the "lands of Olivet, 

 St. Mcfniin, &c. whole piece? of Vines entire in the 

 places where ihey have been already, becaufe the cuf- 

 tpn:\i3, not to pluclc up in thefe lands thofe plants 

 that they find good either as to wood or kind. • 

 As for myfelf, I have always found, that thefe diffe- 

 rent flools, mixed among very fmall ones, make a 

 grotefque figure in one and the fame piece of land, 

 and could never approve of this ridiculous method. 

 In ftrong lands, or fuch as retain the water, one 

 ought not to plant but in the month of April or 

 beginning of May, becaufe it is not eafy to make a 

 Vine take root in thefe forts' of lands, the year be- 

 ing often very hot^ and dry, or very rainy, which are 

 equally to be feared, in refped to the plant fet in 

 them. . ^ .* i. 



. 9 - 



T 

 t 



And as, in an eftate of but a fmall extent, it often 

 happens that the lands are of different natures, and 

 that of confcqucnce the plants of one certain fpecies 

 will not do well but in one part of thefe lands, and 

 will fucceed ill in another, and that the fcafons are 

 different one from anotjier, and fince they too often 

 happen to be either too hot, or too cold, and rainy, 

 and that the kinds of the plants are good or bad, ac- 

 cording to their nature, and that of the ground on 

 which thej^ are planted, and the difpofition of the 

 feafon, I am of opinion, to be more certain not to 



plant any plants but jvhat will, f^ and to have 



always fome vintage To gather, thVt it will be proper 

 |:o plant feyeral kinds, qf plants, according to the lands 

 that they will agree teft with, eipecially if we be not 

 very fure, that one fpecies of plant will do better than 

 all others : in fuch cafe, we fhould plant none but 

 that which may fucceed there. 

 When I fay that it is often advantageous to have dif- 

 ferent kinds of plants in a certain extent of, land, I 

 xJonot mean that you fhould put many kinds of plants 

 In one and the fame ridge, or in one and the fame 

 row, as is common for vignerons to do, when they 

 plant -vineyards for thofe who are obliged to make 

 but one fort of wine of all forts of Grapes, which, ne- 

 Verthelefs, they would have paffed for pure Auverhat, 

 although there is not in it perhaps above a third part; 

 but I mean, that in every different kind of land there 

 Ihould be planted but one kind of plant, to the end 

 that, every kind being feparate, we may, in the time 

 of vintage, eafily make fuch wine as we defire -, which 

 will be very difficult, if all the different fpecies of 

 plants be planted confufedly one among another ; for 

 there will icarce be found among the vintage gatherers 



» V : - 



4 



opened and removed even to the bottom, which by 

 this means will become better furnifned, and th'e' 

 roots.of the Vine will be capable of fpreading them- 

 felves. 



The beft time to plant cuttings, which have been 

 bundled and buried in the ground, is when the rind 

 fwells ; which may be known by a kind of protube- 

 rance rifing round about the wound, and alfo by 

 the buds being juft ready to open; and that the cut- 

 tings may not dry too much, they ought to be kept 

 for fome time in a veffel full of water, and not to be 

 taken from thence, but as they are planted, for if 

 the heat fhould fhrivel thofe that are planted, they 

 will not fo readily take root, and many of them 

 might die. 



For this reafon it is better to plant a vineyard in a 

 rainy moid feafon, or at lead cloudy, than when it is 

 too hot, or there is a too drying wind. 

 They commonly make ufe of two different utenfils 

 of iron to make the hole where they put the cutting 

 of the plant, either a fpade, or a large kind of pick- ' 

 ax. ■ The firfl is the moft proper to make good v;ork, . 

 provided the earth be wrought the wholelength and 

 . breadth of the trench, and alfo the depth that the 



plant is laid, that is to fay, as far as the hollow cf 

 . the earth.. ' . 



When they make ufe of the fecond utenfil, it is com-^ 

 mohly with a defign to make bad work, for the lazy 

 vignerons content themfelves in making a holetopuf 

 the cutting of the plant in, without digging the reft 

 of the ground. .^ ^ : 



But by this laft way 'of planting, it often tiappens that 



, the young roots of the plants finding*^nothing but hard 

 earth, into which they are not able to penetrate, it is 

 impoffible that they fhould be able to extend them- 

 felves as they would do, in a land that has been expof- 

 ed to the^air, frofts, &c. by the good digging that 



- has been given it, when the 

 the fpade the whole length. 



trench has been dug with 



■ f 



V 



< ■ 



Of gathering the vintrge. 



* 



The vintage of the Auvernats being the mofl: precious 

 of all thofe which we have to make in this plot of 

 vineyards, in order to have e;ood wine, we ought to 

 attend the maturity of the Grapes. ':> =7^ r ^ 

 And asjhere are pertain foils, where the Grapes, hav- 

 ing been cut a little too green, are too much ferment- 

 ed in the vat^ and others, on the contrary," cut very 

 ripe, are but little fermented;, which keep the better ; 

 it is abfolutely neceffary that thofe who 'have thofe 

 vineyards do carefully apply themfelves to be acquaint- 

 ed with the quality of their ground. 

 But one may fay, in the general, of all the good Au- 

 vernats of this country, that they ought to have al- 

 ways one point of green when they ^re gathered, 

 particularly when the year has been hot, and the lands 

 where they grew have been fat, or very much dunked; 

 for it is not fufficient, when one would have good 

 wine, to cut the Grape in its degree of maturity, but 

 he mufl take a fit feafon to do this in,. As thus, one 

 ought neither to begin nor continue to gather when 

 it rains, though many are not very fcrupulous as to 

 this point, for they fay the wine will fell never the 

 worfe for it. 



either men or women, fuch as have fkill enough to 

 diflinguifh them, and befides, if they had, it would 

 be a lofs of time, ' . 



A vineyard may be planted after two manners, either 

 upon the even ground, or in open rows. >> 



In planting upon the even ground, when the land has 

 been levelled and marked out, they make a hole with* 

 a fpade to put in the plant, but it ought neverthelefs, 

 to be fuppofed that this land has been prepared, and 

 well trenched. ■ ' . 



- . 



The manner of planting a vjneyard in open rows is 

 almoft the only one in ufe in the Orleannois, and is, 

 without contradidlion, the bcfl ; in tl>at it is certain, 



1 .. I 



.[-. 



I own that it may fometimes happen fb, but it ou^ht 

 to be -allowed me that it has a bad qualitv. One 

 ought alfo to fee to it, that the dew that falls often 

 very plentifully in this feafon, be entirely diffipated, 

 and that there be no dew cither upon Grapes, or the 

 leaves of the Vines, for it is found by experience, thac 

 for the litde quantity of v/ater there is in this fort of 

 wine, it lofes a great deal of its quality. 

 Therefore the feafon cannot be too fine for cutting the 

 Auvernats, for this reafon : in a great many vineyard 

 plots in this kingdom, as in Burgundy, and other 

 places, where the wines have great reputation, they 

 do not gather their vintage, but during the finelt part 

 of the day j that js to fay, the gardeners begin their 



14 H work 



