SOIL, SITUATION AND ASPECT. 45 



branches were torn so completely from their fasten- 

 ings that their extremities swept the ground. The 

 bunches of fruit were knocked about, and portions of 

 them, as well as single berries, lay scattered on the 

 ground in every direction. On the fruit, however, 

 that survived the wreck, the effects of the wind were 

 remarkable. It must be stated that the wall on 

 which the vine is trained, is ten feet high, and is so 

 situated that to the height of about three feet from 

 the ground the wind had but little power over it, its 

 force being broken by an outer wall standing at a 

 little distance off in front of it. On the lower part of 

 the wall so protected, the grapes not having been 

 much injured, began to change their color and ripen 

 about the twentieth of September, and on tlie twelfth 

 of October every berry was perfectly matured, while 

 all those that remained on the vine above three feet 

 from the ground, were, on the first of JS^ovember, as 

 green and hard as on the thirtieth of August, when 

 the high wind occurred.' Shortly afterward these 

 began to change their color, and ultimately ripened 

 tolerably well by the first week in December. Thus, 

 solely through the effects of a strong wind, there 

 were to be seen at the same time, on the same 

 branches of this vine, and within nine inches of each 

 other, bunches of grapes, the lowermost of .which 

 were perfectly ripe, while the uppermost were quite 



