176 ON PLANTING AND MANAGING 



and have no part nor lot in the matter ; and if the vine 

 should have been forced very early, the grapes will be 

 actually swelled off before the solar heat can have put 

 in motion the sap contained in the roots. Unless, 

 therefore, artificial means be used to make the roots 

 move before their natural time, an early forced vine 

 will present the very singular anomaly of having pro- 

 duced a vast mass of foliage, and a matured crop of 

 grapes, before the roots can have contributed any thing 

 towards their support. 



And what are the consequences that result from com- 

 pelling nature thus to produce foliage and perfect 

 fruit, when her grand agents, light and heat, are com- 

 paratively dormant 1 Simply these, that if the sap con- 

 tained in the trunk and branches of the vine be all ex- 

 hausted in the formation of the fruit and foliage, before 

 that in the roots can come to its assistance and follow 

 up the supply, the fruit is then exposed to the fatal ef- 

 fects of shrivelling, and shanking, and all the other 

 numerous ills that so frequently befal early forced 

 grapes, and the vine itself suffers, in consequence, 

 what may be very aptly termed, a complete paralytic 

 stroke ! 



Sufficient, it is presumed, has now been said to show 

 the necessity of improving the culture of the vine, and 

 placing it on a more certain basis than it is at present 

 with reference to the management of the roots, by sur- 

 rounding them with such conditions as shall approxi- 

 mate more nearly to those they enjoy when growing 

 indigenously in their native country : and in doing 

 this the task will be abundantly simple. It has al- 

 ready been remarked that the roots of vines delight to 

 ramble amongst rocks and stones, and similar substan- 

 ces, and that when vines are planteal in soils abound- 

 ing in these substances they always produce finer and 

 better flavoured grapes, than when planted in any other 



