Chap. XII. O F T H E V I N E. 409 



tion I had made, that, even in our beft vineyards, there are always 

 great numbers of vines which abfohiteJy bear no fruit at all, and 

 many others which produce but very little; fo that it is not on the 

 great number of plants that the great produce of the vineyard de- 

 pends, but on the goodnefs of thofe plants. 



Accordingly, I concluded, that I ought not to look upon my hav- 

 ing taken up fome vines in order to form the alleys, as a lofs, pro- 

 vided thofe in the bed were enabled by good culture to yield their 

 utmoft produdions. The event Ihewed that I was right. 



I likewile judged, that the grapes would ripen more perfetSlly in 

 this new way, than in the old : and in that too 1 was not mi- 

 ftaken; for they were much higher flavoured, and made far better 

 wine. 



Befides thefe advantages, this culture preferved my vines from a 

 very bad accident, which happens frequently, efpecially when the 

 autumn is rainy: I mean, the rotting of the grapes. In our com- 

 mon vineyards, the grapes ripen, linothered beneath that quantity 

 of leaves with which the vines are loaded, and furrounded by num- 

 bers of weeds, which often grow higher than the vines themfelves. 

 Add to this, that the air round them is filled with various exhala- 

 tions from the earth, which, for want of a free circulation, remain 

 fufpenced about the plants. Thefe caufes cannot but make the 

 grapes rot, and the wine that is made of them, muft be greatly in- 

 ferior to what it would otherwife be. 



Our vines in beds, being much lefs, if at all, liable to any of thefe 

 accidents, will have the advantage of preferving their grapes found 

 and without rottennefs, till they are perfe(a:ly ripe. This I have 

 already experienced, at a time when above half the grapes of my old 

 vineyards were abfolutely rotten. 



Notwithftanding all the advantages of this new method, which, 

 I may fay, I have only glanced at; they would probably not be 

 regarded, if they were not attended with greater fruitfulnefs than is 

 obtained in the common way. I (hall therefore iliew, that the pro- 

 duce of my young vines was very confiderable, and greatly fuperior 

 to that of my old vineyard. 



My bed, as I obferved before, was formed in November 1752 i 

 and the two outward rows confifted, in a great meafure, of young 

 layers, which not being old enough in 1753, to bear much fruit, I 

 could not exped: any great matter from them that year. However, 



Ggg they 



