ipS Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [lo Mar., 1911^ 



THE WL\E INDUSTRY LV SOUTHERN FRANCE. 



DePART.MKNT of HiiHAULT. 



{^Continued from page J 62. vol. IX.\ 



F. de CastcUa, Govermneiit Xitictdturist 



Annual Cultivation of the Soil. 



Not only as regards preliminary joreparation of soil should the vine- 

 yards of Herault serve as an object lesson to Victorian vine-growers. 

 The thorough tillage the ground receives each year, and the manner in 

 which it is carried out, are likewise of considerable interest to us; for' 

 they contribute in no small degree to the exceedingly heavy yields char- 

 acteristic of the region. 



Insufficient tillage has been a common cause of small yields in Vic- 

 torian vineyards in the past. \(y doubt, the evolution of our viticultural 

 methods, in the direction of more intense culture which is so satisfactory 

 a feature of our replanted vineyards, is correcting many of the errors of 

 the past. Nevertheless, one still finds evidence of neglect in too many 

 of our vineyards ; and, even in those where the soil is kept free from 

 weeds and loose during the summer, it is questionable if the work is 

 always performed in the most advantageous manner and at the most pro- 

 pitious moment. 



The distance apart and methods of training the vines of Herault are 

 very different to ours, and exert a considerable influence on the question 

 under review. These features will lie dealt with in detail later, and it 

 will here suffice to point out that the usual di.stance apart is 5 feet by 

 5 feet and that the vines are neither tied up nor topped in any way during 

 the summer.* Such close planting does not permit the passage of a 

 pair of horses; hence the two- and three furrow ])loughs we u.se cannot 

 be employed. The absence of topping has for result that, after a couple 

 of months' growth, whole blocks <jf vines become an almost continuous 

 mass of verdure, impenetrable to .scarifiers, &c. Cultural operations 

 must therefore be pushed on energetically in the earlv spring, so that the- 

 soil is free from weeds and thoroughlv tilled, by the time growth is suffi- 

 ciently advanced to interfere with the passage of implements. 



With the exception of the general substitution of animal traction for 

 manual labour, wherever possible, the cultural methods in vogue havfi 

 undergone but little change during the past hundred years or .so. The 

 advantages of thorough tillage have long .since been so fully appreciate' 1 

 as to leave little room for improvement in the condition in which the soil' 

 of the vinevards has alwavs been kept. Although animal traction is nowa- 

 days very much more largelv practised than formerly, a change which wac 

 inevitable in view of the increase in the* cost of labour,! the use of the 

 plough has been general in Herault for a very consideral)le time, in marked 

 contrast to the almost exclusive use of manual labour, still common in 

 several more northern districts. 



At the present day, in .southern France, the vineyards are chiefly 

 worked by implements drawn by hor.ses or mules, this being supplemented 

 by hand hoeing of the portions untouched by such cultivation. Though 



* Until fquite recently tr^llised vineyards were practically unVnown in Herpnlt. Of late years a 

 good many have been established, but the gref-t bulk are still grown without support, and laid out onr 

 the square, thus rendering cross cultivation possible. 



t In 1908 the ruling rate for vineyard hibour.^rs was 5s. 7d. jier day of seven hours. 



