FARMERS' REGISTER 



451 



a very meager quality) appeared generally culti- 

 vated with vines and corn. The vines a|)peared 

 every where to be cultivated wilh great care. I 

 remarked some new planlations; and, in one in- 

 stance, a plantation of the preceding year had 

 made so iilile progress, that I could scarcely per- 

 suade myself the vines were not the cutlinsrs of 

 the present year newly planted, with some of the 

 leaves siill remaining upon them. On questioning 

 the nosiilion as to this point, he said that the plan- 

 tation had two years, but the ground here was so 

 very arid the vines made little prntjress. 



Wednesday, 16^/t November. — Having called at 

 the banking house o'' Messrs. Durand, who are 

 agents for HerriPs, Farquhar and Co.'s notes, I 

 took occasion to mention to one of these gentle- 

 men the object with whi^-h I was travelling, and 

 to ask his advice as to the best mode of seeing the 

 vineyards near Perpiirnan. He said I could not 

 have inquired of persons more competent to give 

 nie information ; that they had considerable agri- 

 cultural establishments in the neiixhborhood, and 

 if I and my friend ft he gentleman with whom I 

 had travelled from Figueras) would accompany 

 tliem the next day, they would be glad to give us 

 every information in their power. After accept- 

 ing this very liberal offer, with due expressions of 

 thankfulness, I mentioned tliat I had heard of their 

 eminence as agriculturists, and had I ffone to Mar- 

 seilles in the first instance, I intended to have pro- 

 cured an introduction to them. He replied that it 

 was unnecessary ; that if we were aiiriculturists 

 we were their friends — t!)al all agriculturists weie 

 their friends. It was accordinuly arranged that 

 we should accompany them the next morning in 

 their carriage. 



7hursday, Ytth November. — Mr. Durand havinii 

 recommended our star;ing at six in the mornins' ; 

 as the days were short, and we had more than one 

 place to visit, we proceeded to their house at day- 

 break. Both tlie brothers accompaiiied us. When 

 we got clear of the walls of Perpignan, it was suf- 

 ficiently light to enable us to make some observa- 

 tions as we passed. The olive is cultivated to a 

 great extent on all sides. Mr. Durand knows 

 only one variety, a larsre black sort, not so large as 

 the La Reyna of Seville, but about as large as the 

 largest of the other sorts cultivated there. Here, 

 as elsewhere, the olive has this season been 

 attacked by a worm, but it is attributed rather to a 

 deficiency than an excess of rain. 



The rain has this season been below the ave- 

 rage in this district, and the country has suffered a 

 good deal in consequence. The average annual 

 produce of olive trees throughout the country is 

 from fifteen to twenty pounds of oil ; but there is 

 every possible variety. A very fine olive, in a fa- 

 vorable year, will sometimes yield as much as SO 

 pounds. Such a misfortune as has happened this 

 season is of rare occurrence. In planting they 

 take a sucker (rom the root of an old tree, and 

 keep it three years in a nursery ; it is then trans- 

 planted, and in three years mote it begins to give 

 a ?evi olives. In ten years it has become a largish 

 tree, but requires many more years before it ac- 

 quires all the magnitude it is capable of reaching. 

 Many of the olives we passed had the greatest 

 possible appearance of old age. They were so 

 old, Mr. Durand said, that no one had any know- 

 ledge of their age. In general the ground under- 

 neath was cultivated with grain crops ; the trees 



are benefited by the manure, and the crop suffers 

 only partially from the shade. We saw, however, 

 some very fine trees planted from thirty to thirty- 

 five feet apart, which overshadowed the ground 

 so much, that grain crops could not be cultivated 

 under them wilh advantage. 



After a drive of about an hour and a quarter, we 

 arrived at the first of Messrs. DuranJ's establish- 

 ments. This is an immense square enclosure, with 

 high walls and buildings. It formerly belonged to 

 the Knights Templars. The church is convened 

 to a wine cellar, and' the houses of the Templars 

 to the residences of Messrs. Durand's peasants. 

 Several other buildings are also erected vvilhin the 

 walls, forming altogether a most complete and ex- 

 tensive homestead. After taking chocolate, we 

 proceeeded to the vineyards. Mr. Durand only 

 cultivates three varieties of vines, the Grenache, 

 which gives sweetness, the Carignan, which gives 

 color, and the Mataro, which gives quantity. His 

 vines are in general planted either on the plain, or 

 on a gently inclined slope ; but when there is a 

 slope, the exposure is always to the south. The 

 soil is loose and stony, the stones quartz, of various 

 colors and shades. 



The stony and least fertile portions of the estate 

 are selected lor vines. Some of the cornfields are 

 planted at wide intervals with olive trees, but 

 there are none of these among the vines. The 

 distance at which the vines are planted is always 

 four feet, and the quincunx is preserved with the 

 irreatest possible exactness. The ground is plough- 

 ed twice a year; that is, immediately ai'ter the 

 pruninij, which is now going on, and in spring, 

 alter the vines have given shoots ol'8 or ten inches 

 in length. On both occasions, it is first ploughed 

 in one^direction and then cross ploughed. It re- 

 ceives no other labors during the year, and in Sum- 

 mer, such is the strength of vegetation generally 

 among the vines, that lew weeds make their ap- 

 pearance, the ground being almost covered vvith 

 the vine shoots. I was much surprised on finding 

 that, vvith the exception of one field, the only pre- 

 paration the ground had received previous to hav- 

 ing been planted was a common ploughing. The 

 cuttings were then put down in holes made by an 

 iron bar or dibble, and left to shilt lor themselves. 

 Many of them, as might be expected under such 

 treatment, never came forward, and it requires six 

 years before the vineyard is so well established as 

 to yield a crop. 



On learning this I had no difficulty in account- 

 ing lor the small progress of the vines I had seen 

 before arriving at Perpignan. There was a plan- 

 tation of the JMuscat of Frontignan, which was 

 now six years old, but in much greater vigor, and 

 with a much greater number of shoots on the vines 

 than was usual. Having remarked this, Mr. Du- 

 rand informed me that, in planting this field, lie 

 had caused a hole to be dug /or each plant IS 

 inches deep by 18 inches lonir, and 12 wide, and 

 had laid the cutiinffs horizontally into this trench, 

 bending up the extremity where the plant was to 

 cjrow. This, he said, accounted lor the greater 

 number of shoots from the greater quantity of 

 roots. The produce, he said, was doui>le what 

 the ordinary vineyards yielded. The stocks are all 

 extremely low, not more in general than six inches 

 from the ground ; but so well has the pruning 

 been managed, that all the shoots are nearly ver- 

 tical ; stakes or props are thus quite unnecessary. 



