FRANCE. 89 



like, what we experience in our hop-gar- 

 dens ; and, as foon as the vintage is over, 

 in the years when the dunging is not per- 

 formed, fome ikilful people like to give a 

 horfe- hoeing to the rows, with a plough 

 that has two earth-boards, which turns a 

 double furrow, and opens a great trench in 

 the middle of the four or five-feet inter- 

 vals : this they call vzceHar la vigne. But 

 it can only be done in thofe which are 

 planted upon a very moderate declivity, or 

 a flat ; as many are upon fuch fteeps, and 

 others fo rocky, that this operation either 

 cannot be performed, or would not be pro- 

 per. It is the fifth year before a new vine- 

 yard yields enough to pay expences : after 

 that, it lafts according to the foil and fkill 

 of the matter. Old vines yield the beft wine ; 

 but the quantity is not equal to that of new 

 vineyards, confequently the owners, .? foon 

 as they fall off much, in product, grub them 

 up, fow the land with fainfoine, which 

 they leave from twelve to twenty years, and 

 then plant it with vines again. The crops 

 of fainfoine are very great, and the land is 

 all the time improving; fo that when it 

 comes to be planted again, the yield of wine 



is 



