ON SOILS. 45 



CHAPTER V. 



ON SOIL. 



THE natural soil which is most congenial to the 

 growth of the vine, and to the perfection of its fruit in 

 this country, is a light, rich, sandy loam, not more than 

 eighteen inches in depth, on a dry bottom of gravel, 

 stones, or rocks. 



No sub-soil can possess too great a quantity of these 

 materials for the roots of the vine, which run with 

 eagerness into all the clefts, crevices, and openings, 

 in which such sub-soils abound. In these dry and 

 warm situations, the fibrous extremities, pushing them- 

 selves with the greatest avidity, and continually 

 branching out in every possible direction, lie secure 

 from that excess of moisture which frequently accu- 

 mulates in more compact soils ; and, clinging like ivy 

 round the porous surfaces of their retreats, extract 

 therefrom a species of food, more nourishing than that 

 obtained by them under any other circumstances what- 

 ever. 



One of the principal causes of grapes not ripening 

 well on open walls in this country, is the great depth 

 of mould in which the roots of vines are suffered to 

 run, which, enticing them to penetrate in search of 

 food below the influence of the sun's rays, supplies 

 them with too great a quantity of moisture ; vegeta- 

 tion is thereby carried on till late in the summer, in 

 consequence of which the ripening process does not 

 commen:e till the declination of the sun becomes too 



