36 GRi:YPE CULTURE AND WINE-MAKING. 



CHAPTER II. 



THE BURGUNDY WINE DISTRICT. 



Start for Dijon. — Obser^^ations on the Road. — Arrival at Dijon. — Professor Ladrey. 

 — Aged Vines. — The Market. — Inferior Fruits. — The Botanical Garden. — Its 

 Vines. — Visit Ge^Tcy. — Prices of Vineyards and Wines. — Manufacture of Red 

 Wines. — The Pineau Vineyards. — Vineyards of Chambcrtin. — Wine-vaults at 

 Morey. — The Fermenting-room. — The Press. — The Gamai Vineyards. — Beaune. 

 — Casemates used as Wine-cellars. — Clos Vougeot. — Wine-presses 754 years old. 

 — The Press-house. — Mode of testing Wines. — The Cellars. — Quality of Burgundy 

 Wines. — The Cote d'Or. — The Vineyard of Clos Vougeot. — The Pineau and the 

 Gamai Grapes. — Mode of laying out a Vineyard. — Experiments in Planting. — 

 Treatment until bearing. — Three-bud Pruning. — Aspect of the Vineyards. — Ouv- 

 ries. — Manuring Vines. — Keeping close to the Ground. — Pruning for large and 

 small Crops. — Burgundy Vines must be cultivated as at Home. — The Vintage. — 

 Fenced Vineyards. — Unfenced Vineyards. — Laws regulating the time of gathering 

 Grapes. — The Laborers. — Small Proprietors make inferior Wine. — The fewer the 

 Grapes the better the Wine. — Return to Paris. 



August 6. — Left Paris for Dijon. Tlie country tlirongli wliicli 

 we passed was chiefly undulating liills planted with the sugar- 

 beet, which looked very fine. In the distance could be seen sev- 

 eral sugar manufactories, with their tall chimneys and fine out- 

 buildings. All along the railroad the land was parceled out into 

 very small lots, eight or ten feet wide and two hundred feet long. 

 To one accustomed to the broad fields of America, it is very 

 strange to see so many strips of land, all belonging to different 

 persons. Of course, these lots arc all planted according to the idea 

 of the owner ; therefore, as you whirl rapidly by, you will see 

 first a patch of vineyard, then oats, wheat, barley, etc., creating a 

 very curious effect, till you know how valuable land is in this 

 densely-populated part of the world. On my way I also saw sev- 

 eral fine meadows planted with clover, or what we Californians 

 call alphalfa. The strips of land are plowed in a curved shape 

 on the hill-sides and in very low land. The reason of this is, that 

 if the water were to run through a straight furrow it would be so 

 rapid that the soil would be washed away. The lands are from 

 four, five, to six feet, and thrown up by the plow, but it is done 

 most beautifully regular. I have seen several men plowing very 



