lo Dec, 1 910.] Tlie Wine Industry in Soutliern France. 755 



Even admitting a return to something like original compactness after 

 a few years, the value of deep preparation as a means of promoting the 

 establishment of a drought-resistant root system would alone constitute a 

 sufficient argument against ever omitting it. The recent researches of 

 Professors Degrully and Ravaz, of JNlontpellier, on the root system of the 

 vine, show clearly how considerable an influence deep preparation can exert 

 in this direction. 



In the course of these investigations, which were undertaken in con- 

 nexion with the solution of a rather different problem*, a careful study was 

 made of the root systems of many different vines, accurate measurements of 

 depth and direction, of all important roots, at close intervals, as they were 

 being uprooted, rendered possible the drawing of diagrams exactly repre- 

 senting the root distribution, with an accuracy hitherto not attempted. 

 Three of these diagrams are here reproduced, with the aid of which a 

 few considerations as to the functions performed by the different roots 

 may be briefly examined. The root system of a vine grown from seed differs 

 much from that of one grown from a cutting, the method of propagation 

 exclusively employed in our vineyards. The tap root, so much in evidence 

 in the former case, no longer exists, its place being taken by a varying 

 number of deeply plunging roots, springing either from the original 

 cutting itself or from larger roots having a more or less horizontal direction. 

 The root system of the cultivated vine is thus made up of two classes of 

 root, viz., lateral or horizontal, and dipping or plunging roots. There 

 is no difference between them in structure ; in fact, the boundary line 

 between them is not a hard and fast one, and all intermediate degrees are 

 possible between a directly plunging ar 1 a horizontal root. Greater 

 differences are to be found in the functions 1 srformed by each. 



It has been experimentally proved that the greater part of the plant 

 food the vine obtains from the soil is absorbed during the first rush of 

 active vegetation in spring and before the vine commences to blossom, t 

 The surface soil, being richer than the subsoil in phosphoric acid and 

 nitrogen, it is probable that this absorption is chiefly carried out by the 

 lateral roots in the shallower layers of the soil. Later on, whilst the 

 plant is working up and distributing the substances at first absorbed, the 

 main requirement is water, and this is chief! v supplied by the roots 

 situated in the deeper layers of the subsoil, t 



The greater part of the plant food is thus absorbed by the more or 

 less horizontal roots in the richer upper layers of the soil, more especially 

 those substances present in an easily assimilable form, as well as those 

 resulting from the application of manures. The deep roots, on the other 

 hand, constitute the water supply of the vine, and in a dry climate, such 

 as that of Northern Victoria, the vital importance of having vines amply 

 supplied with deeper roots cannot be over-estimated. 



* Siir la Culture Su-perficielle de la Vigne, L. Degrully and L. Ravaz, Mont- 

 pellier, 1905. 



t According to G. Chappaz (Progres Agricole et Viticole, Vol. I., p. 521), before 

 flowering the vine has absorbed almost the whole of the phosphoric acid it will 

 require during the year, f of its total nitrogen, and f of its total potash require- 

 ments. 



+ Potash, probably, must also be included here, its absorption continuing longer 

 than that of the other plant food elements, than which it is also more abundantly 

 present in the deeper soil. 



