ON ASPECT. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ON ASPECT. 



A GOOD aspect, which is of prime importance in per- 

 feeling the fruit of the vine, may be termed, when 

 considered in reference to the surface of walls, an 

 amelioration of climate ; and soil and climate are the 

 two grand causes of all the differences which appear in 

 the productions of the earth. 



The warmer the aspect, the greater perfection does 

 the grape attain in cur climate, provided all other cir- 

 cumstances are alike ; and if the greatest quantity 

 of the sun's rays shining'on the surface of a wall were 

 alone to be considered as constituting the best aspect, 

 there would, of course, be no difficulty in naming a 

 due southern one as better than any other. But warmth 

 alone is not sufficient ; shelter is equally necessary. 

 There is a strong counteracting agent, which, as its 

 effects fall more or less on any surface of walling on 

 which vines are trained, proportionately injures them 

 and retards their growth, and the maturations of their 

 fruit. That agent is the wind. 



There is no period in the growth of a vine, from the 

 moment of its being planted as a cutting or otherwise 

 to the extremity of its existence, in which any move- 

 ment of the air, that may properly be called wind, will 

 not have a greater or less pernicious effect on its well- 

 being. The perspiration of a vine is so great, princi- 

 pally through the medium of its fine large leaves, with 

 their broad surfaces disposed in such a manner as to 



