•jcA journal of Agriculture. [lo Dec, 1910. 



plantation of large areas of badly prepared land, the yields from which 

 have inevitably been disappointing and in striking contrast to those of 

 Herault, the home, as we have already seen, of intense vine culture. 



It is true that replantation of the phylloxerated vineyards in the north- 

 east is very generally being made on properly prepared land, a most satis- 

 factory change of opinion being noticeable in this district at any rate. 

 It is also true that nearly all that there is to be said on the subject 

 has already appeared in publications issued by the Department of Agricul- 

 ture, more particularly in Trenching and Subsoiling for American Vines*, 

 a work containing very full information on the subject, the study of which 

 is most earnestly recommended to those who are in search of information. 

 During the ten years which have elapsed since it was issued opinions have 

 not in any way changed in Europe; nevertheless, at the present juncture, 

 a few reminders and some further arguments, based on recent research, 

 may not come amiss. 



The very fact that the subject is one which receives rather scanty atten- 

 tion in recent French viticultural literature is apt to mislead and to cause 

 its importance to be under-estimated. Its necessity is so universally 

 admitted in Southern Europe that further argument in its favour is needless. 

 No one in Southern France or Spain would think of planting a vineyard 

 without first thoroughly preparing the soil. 



Several arguments are, at times, put forward by those anxious to find 

 an excuse for avoiding the initial expense necessary for proper preliminary 

 preparation of their vineyard land. Most of these are completely answered 

 in the Departmental publication already referred to. There is one, how- 

 ever, to which it is well to briefly refer here. 



It has several times been suggested to the writer, that the physical 

 nature of some of our soils is such that, even though they be thoroughly 

 worked and loosened to a considerable depth in the first place, after under- 

 gomg the consolidating influences of two or three winters the subsoil will 

 have set as firmly as ever ; in other words, have become as compact as it 

 was in its natural state. 



No doubt, some silty soils do set under the influence of abundant 

 moisture, but never to the same extent as to return to the original state. 

 Every one knows the difference between " made " soil and that which has 

 never been disturbed. A hole which has been filled up again, even though 

 the soil were rammed in the process, is always easier to open up again than 

 the undisturbed ground alongside. The natural arrangement of the soil 

 particles, which it has taken countless centuries to bring about, is 

 evidently different to that of the thoroughly stirred soil, even after this 

 has settled down for several years. The higher level of the surface after 

 trenching amply proves that the internal arrangement must be radically 

 different. In this connexion, the condition of the soil when worked is of 

 very great importance. Any soil is more likely to set if worked in a wet 

 or sodden state, when the effect of subsoiling would be merely to puddle it, 

 whereas, if the operation were carried out when proper moisture conditions 

 prevailed, everv part operated on would be thoroughly crumbled and the 

 result would be infinitely more lasting. This phase of the question concerns 

 the season for subsoiling. 



* Compiled and translated from European authorities by Raymond Dubois and 

 W. Percy Wilkinson, Department of Apriculture, Melbourne, 1901. Obtainable 

 from the Secretary for Agriculture. Price gd., postage 3d. 



