486 [ THE VINE. 



large bunches, but the grapes will be lacking in flavour 

 and too watery, and will contain too much nitrogenous 

 material instead of sugar, so that they will be perhaps 

 fairly satisfactory for table use, if they happen to be 

 table varieties, but decidedly inferior for the press. 

 Their produce in liquor will be abundant but lacking in 

 alcohol and aroma, and of bad keeping quality, being 

 more liable to alteration and deterioration than to im- 

 provement, and therefore must be consumed at once. On 

 white or whitish soils, which are not so well heated by 

 the sun as the red and dark soils and are moreover 

 deficient in iron contents, the vine acquires a moderate 

 development with a rather sickly habit and the grapes 

 mature late and are generally lacking in sugar. On stiff 

 clayey soils which dry up in summer and become 

 water-logged in winter, the vine is liable to be burned 

 up in summer, and in years of drought often succumbs for 

 want of moisture, and in wee springs it is liable to suffer 

 from an attack of root-rot or oi eel-worms at the roots, 

 which sometimes develop early in May at the time when 

 the vine is in bloom and spread over patches of con- 

 siderable extent with fatal results in a few days. More- 

 over on such soils the grapes are deficient in flavour and 

 sugar, and are generally too acid and astringent, and the 

 wine obtained from them will be poor in alcohol and 

 aroma, and harsh or rough in quality, though perhaps 

 of fairly good keeping quality on account of the excess of 

 acids and tannin. Even vines of superior quality such 

 as Pinot noir, if grown on these heavy soils will yield a 

 wine of poor quality, requiring the addition of sugar 

 during fermentation, and its native rnild and mellow 

 flavour will be replaced by a roughness and a dry after- 

 taste which is difficult of amendment. 



As a preliminary preparation the soil must be 

 trenched to a depth of 50 c.m. or more, and at the same 

 time should be manured in order to enable the grower 



?O "'137313 



