CULTIVATION OF THE VINE. 131 



the ground be stacked, or divided into regular 

 lines, crossing each other at intersections that 

 should divide the field in the manner of the 

 checquer board, the plots thus formed to be two 

 and a half feet square. 



This will give a regularity to the appearance 

 of the vineyard, heightening greatly the beauty 

 of the coup d'oiel, when the vines shall arrive 

 at maturity. 



Neatness and symmetry are always valued by 

 the cultivator of taste, but apart from the gratifi- 

 cation of the fancy, a great practical advantage is 

 obtained by such regularity, as the vines incur 

 less hazard of injury in the operations of weeding 

 and digging, and admit more readily the rays of 

 the sun to reach every part of the vine grounds, 

 thus preventing much of the fruit from premature 

 decay, a misfortune to which the vineyard is ex- 

 posed when the grapes are much shaded. 



The highly favourable influence of the sun on 

 the quality of the wine, as well as the quality of 

 the product, manifests the great importance of 

 such regularity, and proves the decided supe- 

 riority of the present system of cultivation over 

 the confused and slovenly disorder in which our 

 old plantations have been crowded together. 

 This distance between the vines I consider as 

 the most judicious, for should greater space be 

 left, the full crop of which the ground is capable 

 will not be obtained from the vineyard.* In a 



* Let it not be forgotten, that our author here speaks of 

 Switzerland, "where every rood of ground supports a man," 

 With us it is different, and a greater space may be safely and 

 advantageously left. TRANSLATOR. 



