9 March, 1908.] Viticulture in Europe. 



chiefly planted in sandy loams, the proportion of sand varying very con- 

 siderablv. I referred, in a letter, to the large number of ungrafted \ine- 

 yards which have been planted in sandy soils near Lisbon. Unless the 

 soil be very sandy, Eurojoean vines do not resist, and in all the richer 

 loams the vineyards are grafted on resistant stocks, which do remarkably 

 well. In these deep sandy loams almost any American will thrive; recon- 

 stitution has consequently been a great success about here. 



Riparia was much planted in the early days and where the soil is deep 

 and moist it is still giving satisfaction. On hillsides it is not so suitable 

 as Riparia x Rupestris hybrids, and in some cases Rupestris du Lot is 

 preferred, though there are complaints of faulty setting of the fruit on 

 this last-named stock. 



Several Franco- Americans are used on the hill sides, where they do 

 better than Riparia. Growers/ are very well satisfied with them, especially 

 with A.R.G. I. No. 1202 has not been used to nearly the same extent 

 but those who have tried it are satisfied with it. Xo. 601 (Bourrisquou x 

 Rupestris) is highly spoken of for dry hillsides near Torres Vedras. I 

 was not able to hear of a single case where the resistance to phylloxera of 

 ihe above-mentioned Franco- Americans was not amply sufficient. 



On one vineyard I saw a curious case of the value of the Solonis in a 

 special soil. This stock is now generally discarded on account of the short 

 life of the vines grafted on it. Usually after a few years they lose 

 vigour and die ofp altogether. The lower portion of the vineyard in ques- 

 tion, on the edge of a creek, is wet and liable to floods. In this special, 

 almost swampy soil, a block of vines, grafted on Solonis, and over 20 

 \ears old, is still vigorous and healthy and produces a good crop of grapes. 

 Such a case is unusual and is only mentioned as showing how limited an 

 area some stocks may prove useful in. 



As regards the establishment of the vineyard, much that I have written 

 concerning the Douro applies also to the Lisbon district, though in the 

 latter the land is usually a gentle slope where terracing is not necessary. 

 The chief difference is in connexion with subsoiling, which is not carried 

 to anything like the same depth. As a rule this varies between 2 and 3 

 feet near Lisbon. In rich, loamy land 2 feet is considered sufficient, 

 whilst poor sandv soils are turned over to a depth of 3 feet. The ex- 

 tremely deep working at CoUares is a purely local exception. The rooted 

 American vines are not planted so deep as on the Douro — 15 to 18 inches 

 is the usual depth. 



Here also, vineyard grafting is everywhere the rule. Those who have 

 tried planting bench grafted nursery struck vines have given it up in 

 favour of vineyard grafting. The ordinary cleft graft is the one chiefly 

 used. It is performed in February, None of the growers I met here was 

 in favour of autumn grafting. 



The distance apart of the vines is usually 5 ft. x 5 ft., though I saw 

 some vineyards at 5 ft. x 3 ft. 3 in., and at 7 ft. x 3 ft. Even at these 

 distances the vineyards are all worked with the hoe. 



The unsuitabiiitv of very sandy soil for the life of phylloxera is one 

 of the most interesting fact's which strike a visitor to the vineyards near 

 Lisbon. The climate here is very suitable for the spread of phylloxera. 

 At Torres Vedras its action was most rapid and the vineyards on rich land 

 were destroyed within an exceedingly short space of time. Yet one finds 

 large areas where vineyard owners are even now planting ungrafted vines. 

 Wherever the soil is sufficiently sandy, phylloxera seems powerless to do 

 any harm. 



