164 THE GRAPE. 



the grape-vine, the oft-disputed fact that these inorganic 

 substances are really absorbed. Here is a plain proof 

 that they are, for according to the greater or less amount 

 of lime in the soil, so will this appearance be manifest. It 

 is most likely, that if all plants were so situated as to be 

 enabled to take up the exact proportions of the various 

 elementary food required by them, most of the diseases.to 

 which they are subject would disappear; and certain 

 enough it is, that all would be prevented, if we could con- 

 trol the elements to suit the different stages of growth, 

 and adapt the light and heat to all respective constitutions. 



In making choice of a piece of land for a vineyard, it 

 is not always convenient to gain possession of the precise 

 spot which our intelligence would covet ; but if it could 

 be done, and there are many opportunities where it may 

 be, we should accept an elevated table-land, lying high 

 and dry upon a limestone base, and screened from the 

 damp easterly and cold north and north-west winds by a 

 distant range of hills, which would protect without pro- 

 ducing a confined atmosphere, and give shelter against the 

 most frigid blasts of a below zero temperature. 



We may also take a more philosophical view of the 

 method of planting than is generally practised, and in- 

 stead of fixing the plants in the position of so many hills 

 of corn, and about the same distance apart, when each 

 stool requires a stake, and the bearing cane has to be 

 curved over, thereby being only half supported, we would 

 consider the aspect that might have to be dealt with, the 

 inclination towards the sun's rays, and all such matters as 

 would give opportunity for the most prevalent drying 

 winds to blow through each row of vines, and in addition 

 to expose the upper side of the leaves as much as possible 

 to the action of the mid-day sun, in order the better to 

 concentrate true growth, and prepare the plants to resist 



