THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 37 



be covered the thickness of three or four mches with long, 

 dead, strawy dung. This is to be removed in the spring ; a 

 little of the very rotten may be permitted to remain, as this, 

 with the addition of a little rotten cow dung, should be worked 

 into the border every spring." 



Extract by Speedily from Marshall's Travels, which he in- 

 troduces by saying that he hopes will prove acceptable, as the 

 kind of manure, and the best time of applying it, are of the 

 utmost importance : — 



" My landlord told me, that he had an intimate acquaint- 

 ance, a vigneron, at Verzenay, who was reckoned one of the 

 most careful managers in all the country, and that he would 

 give me a letter to him, requesting him to give me all the in- 

 formation I desired. This I readily accepted, and proceeded 

 to Verzenay, where I inquired for the vigneron the landlord 

 at Chalons had wrote to. We walked directly into his vine- 

 yard, which was dunging, in trenches made for that purpose. 

 The season for this, most approved here, is directly after the 

 vintage, and to be finished before the winter sets in. It is all 

 carried in on the heads of women and children in baskets, 

 and they empty their baskets in trenches dug for that pur- 

 pose, which are doing at the same time, and others spread it 

 in the trenches, and cover it with mould immediately. Some- 

 times the trenches are made along the centre of the intervals, 

 at others, they are dug between the plants. 



" The sort of dung they prefer most is cow dung, that is, 

 the cleanings of the cow-houses, which are well littered with 

 straw or stubble for that purpose ; horse dung is also used, 

 but only on stiff soils. They reckon that five to eight hun- 

 dred baskets are necessary for an acre of vines. The baskets, 

 I reckon, hold about half a bushel, and this manuring is re- 

 peated every four or five years. Making dung is so much 

 attended to throughout all the wine country, that every means 

 are used to increase the quantity. Much cattle are kept, es- 

 pecially cows, and housed as much as possible. These are 

 fed by every means that can be taken. Every weed, every 



