160 THE GARDENER. [April 



some large, and all enclosed and sub divided by low mud-built walls, 

 on which the Chesseles de Fontainebleau Grapes are grown, the fields 

 being cropped with the commoner wine producing sorts, upon which 

 comparatively little pains are bestowed. Far out of the village the 

 walls are clothed with Vines and Pear trees, trained in the most per- 

 fect and methodical fashion, and bearing heavy crops of fruit. The 

 Grapes were not ripe at the time of our visit, early in August, but the 

 Pears were ; some sorts had indeed been gathered. The trees were not 

 protected in any way, though the fruit was hanging temptingly ripe 

 within arm's-length of the highway ; and the border in which the roots 

 of both Vines and Pears grew was only about 2 feet wide, and was 

 supported by a dry stone wall built along the roadside. A group of 

 whitewashed buildings, a little way from the road, looks very much 

 like a Scotch farm-steading ; but a peep within the enclosure shows 

 that the arrangements and appliances are of a different order, and 

 relate exclusively to the culture of the Vine. The walls of the court, 

 the dwelling house, and sheds, &c, are all covered with the Chesseles 

 de Fontainebleau (Royal Muscadine) Grape, and at a glance one can see 

 that every shoot, and almost every leaf, is trained in its allotted space, 

 and all the laterals stopped and pinched as if they had been newly gone 

 over. It is the same in the village. Every wall appears as if it had 

 just been newly white-washed, and every cottage on south, east, and 

 west exposures, is covered with a mantle of green Vine foliage, under 

 which the bunches hang in profusion, literally touching each other in 

 some places. Every bit of available space is utilised, and not an inch 

 more growth is permitted than is necessary to the successful fruition 

 of the plant, which is cropped as heavily as it will bear. An English 

 gardener is rather disconcerted at the appearance of the "Vine borders" 

 in front of the houses — the border is the street, and is paved with large 

 boulders right up to stems of the Vines. Yet both wood and foliage 

 are remarkably good and clean — scarcely any trace of spiders or mildew 

 to be seen, — and the leaves large and leathery, and of a substance 

 never seen on an English Vinery. Of course, the thrifty cottagers 

 simply utilise their walls in this way, and attend to the training and 

 general culture of their Vines in the evenings ; just as the English 

 cottager looks after his Potato plot and garden when his day's work is 

 done. 



In the Vineyards proper, devoted to the culture of dessert Grapes, 

 Vines are trained to low walls from 6 feet to 10 feet high, and coped 

 with brick tiles, the parallel strips of ground between the walls being 

 devoted to the production of common wine-producing Grapes chiefly ; 

 some of the better sorts are also trained on espaliers on the open 

 ground. M. Rose Charmeux, is one of the principal cultivators in the 

 district, and his handsome residence, something like a gentleman 

 farmer's in England, is a prominent feature in the village. The pro- 

 prietor himself was in Paris acting as a juror at one of the fortnightly 



