AGE OF THE VINE. 99 



the old vines into the intervening spaces and rooted them, and 

 when they got strong enough to bear, the second year, he sepa- 

 rated the new plant from the old root upon which it had been 

 feeding, took up the roots of the old vines, and got two or three 

 successive crops, entirely free from rot again. So he has, by his 

 system of renewal by alternate layering into the intervening 

 spaces, kept his vines young. Now, if you will dwarf your 

 vine, I think you will find yourselves under the necessity of 

 replacing it with a young plant if you want entire success. 



This subject is worthy of consideration. I dare say others 

 have had the same experience that I have had in the matter ; 

 that young vines of those kinds which are liable to mildew and 

 to rot will bear for two or three years, and then, as they get 

 older, will fall into these defects. Therefore, it has come to be 

 a saying among grape-growers all over the country, " True, this 

 new grape is exempt now, but let us wait and see. All others 

 have broken down, and this may." I think all ^ur strong- 

 growing grapes would break down unless renewed or allowed to 

 have sufficient extension. 



Denman speaks of a vineyard in Italy one hundred years old, 

 with 100 vines only to the acre, yielding a product of 431 

 gallons of wine — or four gallons and three-tenths to each vine. 

 It was always in perfect health, or it would not be a hundred 

 years old. The crop comes up fully to the average of all Italy. 



If you go into the Burgundy district, in France, where they 

 grow the famous Pineau, which makes the finest wine in all 

 Europe, you will find (as I learn from the same work,) that the 

 vines are planted only twenty inches apart, and they find them- 

 selves under the necessity of renewing every year with new 

 vines, one-tenth of an acre, so that their vineyard is never but 

 ten years old. When you consider the well known fact, that 

 the vine in France does not bear fruit until it has been planted 

 five years, you see they get crops only five years before renew- 

 ing. They find themselves under this necessity, because they 

 dwarf, and they dwarf because it brings the fruit nearer the 

 ground, and it is supposed to ripen better. They know, of 

 course, from their long experience, that it does ripen better, 

 and makes better wine. Not that the grape will not grow to a 

 large size. Chaptal mentions a vine that he says was six feet in 

 circumference. That was probably the Muscat of Alexandria, 



