694 Journal of Agriculture. [8 Nov., 1907. 



FIRST PROGRESS REPORT ON VITICULTURE lis 



EUROPE. 



/•'. de Cast ell a. 



I reached Marseilles on 22nd July, and on the following day proceeded 

 to Alontpellier, in the neighbourhood of which town I spent o\-er a fortnight 

 visiting vineyards, nurseries, collections of vines, and experimental plots. 

 From Montpellier I proceeded via the vallex' of the Rhone tO' Switzerland 

 where I arrived on 22nd inst., after breaking my journey at various pointb 

 of viticultural interest, and also visiting Aubenas and Vallons on the 

 Ardeche, and Vaucluse on the Sorgue, which I reached by branch lines from 

 the Rhone. The main centres I called at on the Rhone were A\-ignon, 

 Montelimar, Tain, Valence, and St. Vallier ; in the neighbourhood of each 

 of these towns I made numerous excursions. 



Montpellier and its neighbo'Urhood presents a vast field for the study 

 of modern viticulture and more especially of reconstitution on resistant 

 stocks. Its vinegrowers were among the first to recognise in the use of the 

 American vine the true solution of the Phylloxera problem. The question 

 was studied in the most thorough manner possible both by private growers 

 and by Government institutions, chieflv the National School of Agriculture 

 of Montpellier, which is now everywhere looked upon as the final Court 

 of Appeal in matters viticultural. The influence of this celebrated 

 institution is everywhere evident in tlie neighbourhood — the enlightened 

 vineyard proprietors of the region eagerK co-operated, assisting bv every 

 means in their power, but chiefly by the establishment of exix?rimental 

 plots on such a scale that the whole countr\ [iracticall)- became one vast 

 experimental field. The results obtained, carefully compared and studied 

 by the leading viticultural authorities of France, have placed matters on 

 such a footing that growers in the district are new alile tO' r>lant with 

 certainty of satisfactory results. 



The question of the use of American stocks is most complex and its 

 study in different centres often presents strange contradictions — it is only 

 by experimental work in each locality, extending over a series of vears, that 

 the true value of each stock, for any given locality, can be accurately 

 determined. It is the thorough manner in which this experimental work 

 has been carried out that has made Montpellier the centre to Avhich all 

 countries ncyv turn for the latest viticultural information. This result has 

 net been achieved without frequent failures. Thousands of acres have 

 , been replanted several times o\'er ; the stocks first used proving unsatis- 

 factory, the},' were replaced by others on which brighter hopes \vere 

 founded. Reconstitution has been an established fact for nearly 

 30 years. Of the stocks first used, the vast majoritv (which are unknown 

 in Au.stralia) are now obsolete. 



Until recentl}-, the vine was by far the most profitable culture in this 

 part of France. From Cette, on the West of ]\Iontpellier. to Lunel, on 

 the East, the whole country is one vast vineyard; every available acre, 

 except a few stony outcrops, being under vines. Seen from the train, 

 even at this dry time of the y&2.x, it presents the appearance of a sea of 

 green, only interrupted by an occasional village, the roads, dustv and 

 white in the strong sunlight, and the cellars, farm luiildings and dwelling 

 houses of large estates, numerous in these parts. 



Aubenas is chiefly interesting as the home of ^I. Couderc well known 

 as the raiser of several of the best grafting stocks such as Nos. 3306, 



