POMOLOGY AND METEOROLOGY. 363 



another uniformity which is this : very slight or no manuring. On this sub- 

 ject I will quote a few passages from the report of our committee on the 

 culture and products of the vine, to the Uuited States commission at the 

 Exposition of Paris, page 165 Report Department of Agriculture, 1867: 



" The soil of Medoc, where stand the ' Chateau Margeaux/ ' Chateau La 

 Fitte/ and ' Chateau La Tour,' is a bed of coarse gravel, among whose pebbles 

 the eye can barely detect soil enough to support the lowest form of vegetable life. 

 In the vicinity of Beziers, on the other hand, the land is rich and strong enough 

 to yield any kind of a crop ; yet Medoc grows wine that often sells for ten 

 dollars per gallon, while that of Beziers sometimes sells for the half of 

 ten cents per gallon. In Burgundy there is a long hill on whose dark 

 red, ferruginous limestone sides a wretchedly thin coating of earth lies, 

 like the coat of a beggar, revealing, not hiding the nakedness beneath. 

 Here stand little starveling vines, very slender and very Ioav; yet here is the 

 celebrated *Clos Vangert,' and this is the hill and these are the vines that 

 yield a wine rivalling m excellence and value that of Medoc, and, to the for- 

 tunate proprietor, the Cote d 'or is what it signifies, ' a hillside of gold.' At 

 its base spreads out a wide and veij fertile plain, covered with luxuriant vines 

 whose juice sells at from ten to twenty cents per gallon. 



*'If you go further northward and examine the hills of Champagne, you will 

 find them to be merely hills of chalk; and these instances only illustrate the 

 rule derived, not from them alone, but from abundance of others, that for good 

 wine you must go to a dry and meagre soil. Yet we would be sorry to have 

 to extend the rnie and say the poorer the soil the better the wine, for there are 

 certainly very few patches of ground in America that can match in poverty the 

 mountains of Champagne, the hills of Burgundy or the slopes of Medoc ; nor 

 would it do to conclude that manure should not be applied, for, although some 

 say it is hurtful to the wine in its quality, it is yet an open question whether 

 this is so or not. Meanwhile, the practice is to manure, though sparingly." 



In wine districts generally there is great difference in the quality of the 

 products of different seasons. 



Between the apples of different years there is a difference in flavor and keep- 

 ing quality which may, probably, be traced to different conditions of. heat, 

 moisture, or prevailing winds. 



THE QUESTION OF WIND-BREAKS 



or open exposure needs to be settled by the test of experience. Are the suc- 

 cessful orchards open to the winds, or sheltered ? If the exposed orchards are 

 most successful, and I think we must concede that they are, is it owing to the 

 exposure to wind ? Coincidence of success and open exposure might say so, but 

 it may be found at fault. There are places where the prevailing winds are so 

 concentrated by the reflection of hill and forest as to generally prevent the 

 pollen from rendering the ovule fertile, thougli the blossoms appear to open 

 with all the organs perfect, and the tender leaves of fast-growing pear trees in 

 bleak places are often injured by a high wind. 



In this State the more exposed orchards are on elevations with adjacent 

 lower levels ; and where they are without surroundings to specially concentrate 

 the winds upon them, we will, I think, find them usually more productive. 



If we can understand all of the coincidences it will be safe to form opinions ; 

 but the fact that we are constantly reaching new truths in nature teaches us 

 to look upon common things as probably hiding something which we ought 



