lo Dec, 1910.] The Wine Industry in Sonilicrn France. 



761 



At each plantation the ground has been deeply worked, all parts being 

 thoroughly mixed. There is no longer the marked difference between 

 soil and subsoil which characterizes our virgin lands. Our often more 

 or less silty .subsoils, if brought to the surface, render this liable to set 

 after rain. Cases are often met with where the land has been actually 

 spoilt by costly trenching, such as would have given excellent results 

 in France. Each case has to be treated on its merits, and. even in 

 France, one occasionally meets with soils for which subsoiling is prefer- 



6. SUBSOILIXG WITH llOKsE WINDING GEAR. 



able to trenching. The amount of power necessary in order to work to 

 a given depth is much the same in the two cases. 



(^OST OF Trenching in France. 



This fluctuates considerably, according to the acti\ity of the demand 

 for the work. Ten or fifteen years ago, when the reconstitution of hundreds 

 of thousands of acres was in active progress, contractors with large steam 

 plants usually charged from ^4 to ^4 i6s. per acre for trenching to a 

 depth to 60 to 70 centimetres (23I to 27? inches). At the time of my 

 visit (1907), owing to the number of plants which were idle, contractors 

 could be found to take on the same work at the very reasonable price of 

 jQ2 8s. per acre.* 



Season for Preparing Land 



This, the last point we have to consider, is one of the most important, 

 and one which does not always recei\'e due attention from intending 

 planters in this country. Two principal mistakes are made : — 



1. The land is worked when it is in an unfit state. 



2. It is worked too short a time before plantation. 



The drawbacks of subsoiling when the land is wet or sodden have 

 already been referred to (p. 754). Unless the ground be in a crumbly 

 condition good results cannot be obtained. Summer time is really the 

 best time to prepare land. Even though, at this season, rather more 

 power is required, it is amply repaid by the greater efficiency of the work. 

 The ground, under the action of the autumn and winter rains, is in ex- 

 cellent order for planting in the following spring. The trenching 



* J. Farcy, Revue de Viticulture, 17 Jan., 1907. 



