210 MANUAL OF MODERN VITICULTURE. 



PART III. 



PLANTING IN SAND. 



Sea sand protects vines from phylloxera. Considerable- 

 areas of downs have been planted with vines during the last 

 few years in the environs of Aiguesmortes (Gard) with the 

 object of utilizing this remarkable property. Although the 

 methods of planting and culture used under these conditions 

 are almost similar to those in ordinary vineyards, there 

 are frequently slight differences of detail necessitated by the 

 special conditions of their application. We shall study 

 these, and also indicate the soils in which such plantations, 

 have succeeded. 



CHAPTER I. 



SELECTION OF SOIL AND CEPAGES. PL ANTING.- CULTURE. 



IST. SELECTION OF SOIL. 



We will examine this first question from the points of 

 view 1st, of the indemnity the soil may insure to vines ; 

 2nd, the influence it may have upon the development of 

 the vines. 



(A.) Indemnity. All sandy soils, that is to say, those in 

 which the physical properties of sand are predominant, 

 have a more or less marked action on the prolongation of 

 the life of vines, but they only endow them with perfect 

 immunity in sea sand containing more than 60 per cent, of 

 silica* Calcareous sands do not have the same action as 

 siliceous sands. They seem to agglomerate more easily, and 

 immunity increases with the state of division of the soil up 

 to a certain limit. A subsoil composed of siliceous sands 

 of suitable nature, where portion of the vine roots may 



* The insecticide power of sand is due to two different causes : 



1st. The tenuity and mobility of its particles prevents the penetration of the insect into 

 the soil, and therefore its multiplication underground. 



2nd. The capillary power of sand retains the water which reaches it by imbibition or 

 infiltration. This water surrounding the insects ajjd their eggs prevent them from respiring 

 and developing. [Transls.] 



