160 MANUAL OF MODERN VITICULTURE. 



for this evil. Vignerons must try by numerous ploughings, 

 sulphurings, and by particular care, to increase as much as 

 possible the vegetation of the vines. 



Certain regions are particularly liable to hailstorms, and 

 there the losses are very frequent, while in other regions 

 they are unknown. It is this uneven repetition of the 

 damages which has always been an obstacle against the 

 extension of hail insurances. As a matter of fact, only 

 those exposed to hail insured their crops, and the premium 

 required was too considerable to allow the insurance to be 

 of any advantage to them. 



Hail guards have often been recommended to protect the 

 crops. These appliances are formed of a pole stuck into 

 the ground, on the top of which a metal point is fixed. 

 They discharge the electricity of the clouds between which the 

 hailstones are formed. Unfortunately, we cannot hope to 

 derive much good from them, for, assuming that they are 

 efficacious, they could only act on the clouds if immediately 

 above them, and it is often very far from the point where 

 they cause damage that hail storms are formed.* 



(C.) HIGH WINDS. 



High winds often cause great damage in vineyards, 

 especially at the beginning of vegetation. They break a 

 great number of shoots when these are young and brittle, 

 if they are not fastened to a stake or lying on the ground. 

 Young vines, and those newly grafted, suffer most on account 

 of the large development of their shoots during the first 

 years. The future of grafted plantations may often be com- 

 promised on account of the shaking of the young plants, 

 which breaks the rootlets and disjoints the grafts, the tissues 

 not being properly lignified and hardened. To avoid this 

 accident the young plants must be earthed up and the shoots 

 fastened to pegs or stakes. 



The use of cepages with spreading habit cultivated without 

 stakes, as in the He"rault, or with low crowns trellised on wires 

 as in the M6doc, is particularly suitable for regions where 

 strong winds are frequent. The direction of the lines should 

 be such as to be parallel to the direction of the prevailing 

 winds ; the vines sheltering each other offer more resistance 

 than if they were struck sideways by the wind. 



* For further information on this matter see V. Vermorel. Etudes sur la Grele. 

 Montpellier. C. Coulet, 1900. [Trans.] 



