VINE. 



soil for a vine ; vegetable substances 

 alone should be used to enrich it, such 

 as the leaves and tendrils of the vine, 

 the residue of the grape when press- 

 ed, and, tailing these, the leaves of 

 trees collected when green, and form- 

 ed into a compost with earth. The 

 ground should be well trenched, if it 

 will admit of it, or loosened with the 

 mattock and pickaxe, as we should 

 do a mass of gravel which was to be 

 spread on a road, and which was too 

 hard for the shovel or spade. The I 

 diflerent parts of the soil should be I 

 intimately mixed, keeping some fine i 

 earth or soil at top to set the plants 

 in. When the ground is prepared, 

 holes are dug in rows four or five ; 

 feet wide, at the same distance from , 

 each other, so as to alternate ; some [ 

 of the finest of the soil is put into , 

 each hole, and the vine plants which ' 

 have been rooted in a nursery, or else | 

 simple cuttings, are carefully insert- i 

 ed, pressing the mould round the 

 roots, and levelling the earth round 

 them. Rooted plants will bear the 

 second or third year, but cuttings 

 take a much longer time. The sea- 

 son for planting is during the winter, 

 when the weather is open. If cut- 

 tings are used, they are taken off the 

 vine on which they grew at the usual 

 time of pruning after the vintage ; a 

 piece of the preceding year's wood is 

 left on the cutting, and when it is 

 planted, the end where the old wood 

 is left is bent or twisted to facilitate 

 its striking : three or four eyes are 

 buried, so that the end is at least a 

 foot underground. If the plant is al- 

 ready rooted, care is taken not to 

 wound or bend the roots, but to 

 spread them out and cover them with 

 mould. During all the time that the 

 vine is growing, the ground must be 

 regularly cultivated and kept perfect- 

 ly clear of all weeds. The usual in- 

 strument of tillage in stony and rocky 

 soils is a two-pronged fork fixed in a 

 short handle, at an angle less than a 

 right angle with the prongs, which 

 are a foot long and very strong, like 

 a double pickaxe (see Fig.)- This is 

 struck into the ground and then 

 drawn towards the workman, while 



d A 



the handle is lifted, which acts as a 

 lever in raising the soil. The roots 

 are by this means enabled to spread 

 through the soil in search of moisture 

 and Ibod. The next year it is usual 

 to prune the young vine down to one, 

 or, at most, two eyes or buds ; but 

 some experienced vine dressers rec- 

 ommend deferring this operation to 

 the second year, by which, although 

 the vine will not be so forward in 

 fruiting, it will be much strengthen- 

 ed, and fully repay the apparent loss 

 of time in the end. 



" In the third year the vine is train- 

 ed, that is, the shoots are tied to up- 

 right stakes planted at each root, or 

 they are laid in an arch and tied from 

 one root to another along the ground. 

 In southern climates trees are plant- 

 ed at a certain distance from each 

 other, and the vine, planted at their 

 foot, is allowed to run up their branch- 

 es, from which it is led in festoons 

 from tree to tree, while the head 

 and branches of the tree are cut off 

 to prevent too much shade. This is 

 by far the most elegant mode of 

 training the vine ; but m France the 

 stakes and the low training are the 

 only metiiods suitable to the climate. 

 The pruning is generally done in the 

 j beginning of winter. 

 ] " When vineyards are established 

 in the plains, where sometimes, as 

 those of Medoc, they produce very 

 good wine, the intervals between the 

 plants can be stirred by the plough, 

 although forking and digging i)y hand 

 ' is more common ; hoeing is as ne- 

 ' cessary in a vineyard to destroy 

 j weeds as it is in a field of turnips or 

 any other crop sown in rows. Wher- 

 [ ever a vineyard is overrun with 

 weeds, you may be sure that there is 

 no good wine, and much poverty in 

 the proprietor. The pruning of a 

 I vine in bearing, the object of which 



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