Preparation of the Soil. 37 



slope of the land. At the time of planting, a hole is 

 made between the stones with an iron bar, large enough 

 to admit a cutting to a sufficient depth. 



Hill-sides covered with Rocks. Certain lands which 

 are exceedingly well adapted to vine-growing, especially 

 as regards the quality of the product, are of difficult 

 and expensive preparation. Such are abrupt declivities, 

 covered more or less completely with rocks, that pro- 

 trude above the surface. 



It is impossible to adapt such surfaces to this culti- 

 vation, except by clearing them of rocks to a depth of 

 sixteen or twenty inches. For that purpose crow-bars 

 are used, and even blasting is resorted to. With these 

 stones little walls are built along the side of the hill. 

 This allows the construction of a series of benches, 

 wider or narrower, according to the steepness of the 

 hill. The surface of these benches, well trenched, is 

 made level. Most of the vineyards on the Rhine, and 

 some of those on the Rhone, are constructed in this 

 manner. 



[Most of our hill-side vineyards have been located upon 

 such abrupt declivities as to preclude the use of the plow, 

 and they were prepared for planting by human labor. The 

 trenching was sometimes done with the spade, and sometimes 

 with the grubbing hoe and the pick. In all cases, the object 

 was to reduce the hill-side to a series of narrow levels, or 

 slopes, generally called terraces, or benches. Where stone 

 abounds in the soil, it is used for walls. On the river hills, 

 the earth is chiefly composed of the detritus of the alternating 

 shales and limestones of our Silurian formation, known as the 

 blue limestone ; here there is plenty of material for making 

 the walls. In digging the soil, the stones are thrown on top, 



