TRANSLATORS' PREFACE. 5 



European vine-growing countries that it would be exceed- 

 ingly unwise, and undoubtedly financially disastrous, to 

 disregard this first essential condition, Le. 9 preparatory deep 

 cultivation, if we desire to assure the success and perma- 

 nence of reconstituted vineyards in Victoria. 



We do not consider it necessary to quote extensively 

 from European authorities in support of this well-established 

 and incontrovertible fact, but the opinion of Professor 

 Pierre Viala, Inspector-General of Viticulture for France, 

 and L. Ravaz, Professor of Viticulture at the National School 

 of Agriculture, Montpellier,* as given in their work on 

 American vines, may be accepted as unquestionably authori- 

 tative and representative ; it is based on extensive practical 

 experience and scientific study of the question, for principally 

 under Professor Viala's direction, France has permanently 

 reconstituted nearly 2,000,000 acres of phylloxera-devastated 

 vineyards, embracing almost every class of soil : 



" Deep Cultivation. The vine, like all plants, prefers a 

 deeply loosened soil. Trenching or subsoiling is therefore 

 necessary, and, if not indispensable (for all American vines 

 can grow in untrenched ground), is at least of great utility 

 for such varieties as the Riparia, most of the Rupestris, &c., 

 which grow very slowly in compact soils. Trenching or 

 subsoiling, however, obtains in many vine-growing regions 

 for the varieties of the V. Vinifera, and in many places not 

 a single vine is planted without previously trenching or 

 subsoiling the ground to a depth of 20 inches, or even 

 3 feet. 



" The vine grows more vigorously during the first years in 

 trenched ground, and bears fruit at the third leaf, while in 

 non-trenched ground it does not bear crops till the fifth or 

 sixth year ; an advantage of two or three good crops is thus 



* Viala and Ravaz. Les Viynes Americaines, Adaptation, Culture, 

 Gre/age, Pepinieres. 2nd ed. Paris, 1896. 



