THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 147 



the preference to such as require the most working of the land 

 in the cultivation. The hibor necessary in this operation, and 

 the manures bj which they are made to thrive, prepares, 

 Hghtens, and enriches it. The dung, in general so adverse to 

 the vine, so prejudicial to the quality of the fruit, incorporated 

 into the soil in advance, can have only good effects ; it has 

 become freed of the carbonic acid in excess, and the vegetable 

 substances become united with the under surface of the earth ; 

 the soil, thus prepared, is suitable for the vine in every age, 

 but more particularly in its infancy." Page 251. 



Remarks quoted by Dr. Lindley in the controversy relating 

 to manures for vines : — 



" The same reasons may be used against the system of the 

 vine-growers of the north, who think it advantageous to ma- 

 nure their vines. By this means, indeed, they obtain larger 

 crops, and more Avine, but it is of bad quality, it will not keep ; 

 and its smell often reminds me, when dranh, of the disgusting 

 substances which produced it. Manure communicates to the 

 vine too much nourishment. The nutritious juice, reduced to 

 gas, and received by the mouths of the capillary roots, and by 

 the air-vessels of the leaves, penetrates and circulates in the 

 sap-vessels, forms the wood of the plant, and furnishes the 

 substance out of which the shoots, leaves, flowers, and fruit 

 are developed ; the more abundant the nutritive matter, the 

 more the diameter of the vessels distends, the more rapid is 

 the circulation of the sap, because the channels through which 

 it passes have more capacity. This causes the sap to circulate 

 in a less state of elaboration, the result of which must be, that 

 the wine is flat, insipid, and destitute of all the principles of al- 

 cohol. Nevertheless, the abundant crop thus obtained, and the 

 brilliant vegetatio7i, are, after all, in some measure deceptive, 

 FOR THEY CAN BE BUT TRANSITORY. In vineyards where ma- 

 nuring is practised, they only manure once in ten years. It is 

 not to be doubted, that the effect is very remarkable the first 

 three or four years after the manuring of the vines, but, in the 

 succeeding years, the plants begin to languish ; no longer find- 



