/ CULTURE. 2O5 



impoverished, its fertility must be recuperated by more 

 abundant manuring; but it is quite useless to let the 

 ground rest for several years, or to cultivate annuals 

 on it. 



But if the uprooted vines have been strongly infected with 

 phylloxera, and the roots abundantly covered with the 

 insects, it would be absurd to replant with other than 

 American vines of the highest resistance. Feebly-resistant 

 vines, especially when young, cannot withstand a rapid or 

 strong invasion. 



(d) Ploughing. The object of ploughing is to loosen the 

 surface of the soil, and to prevent the growth of weeds ; it 

 should therefore be repeated as frequently as possible. The 

 first ploughing (bareing) and the last (earthing up) must be 

 fairly deep (6 inches) ; all others are more superficial, and 

 done with scarifiers rather than with ploughs ; this is above 

 all indispensable for calcareous soils. We know that deep 

 ploughings in spring frequently cause vines to become yel- 

 low and that in all soils they bring about non-setting of the 

 grapes, if done at bloom time. The reason of this is that 

 the plough, by destroying the roots living on the surface, 

 that is to say, in less calcareous soils, forces the vine to 

 derive its nourishment from deeper layers, placing it there- 

 fore in unsuitable conditions for growth, augmenting the 

 chlorosis, checking the nourishment of all organs, and there- 

 fore of the bunches, which consequently do not set. 



(e) Distance between Vines. No improvement can be 

 made on the old local customs. It was thought that the 

 American varieties required more space than the V. Vini- 

 fera, but this is not true. Attention is now drawn to the 

 fact that closely-planted vines, while young, give a better 

 yield, and also produce wine of a better quality than those 

 planted at a greater distance apart. Moreover, in ground in 

 which the subsoil is very calcareous, vines planted closely 

 together, having a more limited root development, live more 

 in the upper layers, and are therefore less liable to become 

 yellow; in this particular case, which applies to very import- 

 ant vineyards, the adaptation to soil is rendered easier by 

 close planting. 



(f) Layering. The layering of -vines is a common method 

 of cultivation in some of the large vineyard districts (Bour- 

 gogne, Champagne, Ermitage, C6te-R6tie, C6tes-du-Rhone, 



