CROPS. 497 



product has been devoted to the manufacture of a drink far more 

 intoxicating, and much more fatal to peace, public order, domes 

 tic happiness, and all good morals, than the mild and ordinary 

 wines of Prance ; which, when unadulterated, are the pure juice 

 of the grape, and have not the strength of common cider. I was 

 in the vine-growing countries in the season of the vintage, when 

 wine in the greatest abundance was free to all, but there was no 

 more excess than at any other season. We could hardly expect 

 these laborious people, whose chief solid subsistence is bread, to 

 limit themselves to water ; and I could not but feel grateful that 

 God had given them so innocent and delicious a beverage to 

 cheer and sustain them under their toil. It is not the use but 

 the abuse of these gifts of Heaven, which constitutes the crim 

 inality, and converts them into a fatal poison. 



Various attempts have been made in different periods to limit 

 the cultivation of the vine. In one case, after a severe scarcity, 

 one of the Roman monarchs ordered the whole of the vines in 

 certain provinces to be destroyed, and more than half the vines 

 in other provinces ; and several kings of France have prohibited 

 the occupation of land beyond a certain amount in the culture 

 of the vine, that the people might be compelled to the cultiva 

 tion of bread. Such interference on the part of governments in 

 private concerns, and such arbitrary measures, seldom effect the 

 desired end. The culture of the bread-grains is, unquestionably, 

 always of the first importance ; but arrangements of this kind 

 are generally much better left to private interest than to public 

 control. The principal objection to the culture of the vine is, 

 that it is in no respect subsidiary to any other crop that it occupies 

 the land permanently, without permitting any other crop ; arid 

 that the vines require much manuring, (though they do not always 

 get it,) without furnishing the materials for producing any manure. 

 Some persons have ploughed or dug in the cuttings and waste 

 parts of the vine, and it is said with extraordinary success : but 

 the practice is not much extended. 



The vines are ordinarily raised from cuttings in a nursery, and 

 transplanted at one year old, generally in rows about four feet 

 asunder each way; but farther when it is intended to plough 

 between them. Generally the land is dug with a spade ; the 

 old wood cut away in the spring, and the new trimmed, leaving 

 three buds only. They are then staked, and trained to these 

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