346 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 May, 191 i. 



THE WINE INDUSTliY LV SOUTHEliN FRANCE. 



Department of Herault. 



{Continued from page 242.) 

 F. de Castella, Goveriiinent ViiicuUurtst. 



VINEYARD MANURING. 



In the last few articles of this series, attention has been directed to 

 some of the causes which contribute to the enormous yields of Herault 

 vineyards.* We have seen that heavy bearing varieties are very generally 

 planted ; that the preliminary preparation of the soil is carried out to a 

 considerable depth ; that its annual cultivation is very thorough ; and, 

 lastly, that the training and, more particularly, the summer pruning are 

 such as will best promote a high degree of fertility and its continuance 

 during future seasons. 



All these factors contribute to the high yields obtained, but none of 

 them could exert its full influence — more especially, could not do so con- 

 tinuously — ^were it not for the copious manuring which is now invariably 

 the rule. 



According to Foext — 



Abundant manuring with very active fertilizers is one of the characteristic 

 features of Languedoc viticuhure. The most divers substances are used : farmyard 

 manure, sheep droppings, town sweepings, woollen rags, oil cake, reeds [Arundo 

 ■phragmites), marc, chemical and commercial manures; and in a general way every- 

 thing which can supply the vine with nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash. It 

 is, thanks to their use, that growers manage to maintain the high fertility of the 

 vineyards, which would soon decline if one did not replace the equivalent of 

 what is removed in the shape of the grape crop. 



It follows that, in manuring, perhaps even more than in any of the 

 other branches we have considered, Herault viticulture presents an object 

 lesson of the greatest value to us in Victoria. A satisfactory change has 

 taken place of recent years in the views of Australian agriculturists as 

 regards manuring ; a change in which viticulture has shared. Scarcely 

 any one now states, as was frequently done a few years ago, that vines 

 do not require manure. Its need is now very generally recognised, 

 though its application is not yet as general as could be desired. It is 

 chiefly as regards the quantity to apply that our growers are in want of 

 education. The trifling additions of superphosphate which have an almost 

 magical effect on our cereal crops and which have revolutionized Australian 

 wheat growing, cannot possibly lead to anything like similar increases in 

 vine yields. The root systems of the two plants are too fundamentally 

 different. In the case of a deep rooting plant, such as the vine, it is 

 only by far heavier applications, made some considerable time before 

 results are looked for, that a marked improvement in yield can be brought 

 about. 



In southern France, vineyard manuring has been practised since the 

 earliest times, but it is only of comparatively recent years that very heavv 

 applications have become general. The modern practice is one of the 

 consequences of the Phylloxera crisis, and may be said to date from the 

 reconstitution of the vineyards on resistant stocks. 



* As previously pointed out {Journal Vol. VITT., p. 72). yields of 3,000 gallons per acre are not 

 uncommon. The region is rpmarkihle as being that of the heaviest bearing vineyards in the world. 

 t CJ. Foex, Cours Complet de Viticulture, p. 620. 



