CULTIVATION OP THE VINE. 125 



the surface of the ground ; and if such should be 

 found, the soil must be carefully levelled. The 

 vines of an old plantation must on no account be 

 eradicated during moist or rainy weather, parti- 

 cularly where the soil is close, or argillaceous. 

 The same inconvenience is not so much to be 

 feared when the soil of the vineyard is a gravel 

 or light sand. 



ARTICLE II. 



Choice of the cuttings, and precautions neces- 

 sary, up to the time of planting. 



Some short time before the vintage, which in 

 Switzerland is about the second week in October, 

 we should visit the vineyards from which the cut- 

 tings to be cultivated the succeeding season, are 

 to be taken. 



The vineyard should not be too old, nor should 

 the plants be too young. To be more definite, 

 however, I observe, that I prefer to take my 

 slips from vines that are between eight and six- 

 teen years old, and from the vines of a soil 

 neither too light nor too loose. 



We should select in the vineyard, those vines 

 that have come from strong vigorous cuttings, 

 and that we may not be mistaken in the plants, 

 whose foliage, as well as branches, may indicate 

 a healthy vigour, it will be advisable, while the 

 leaf is yet on the vine, to mark the stocks from 

 t 2 



