&v SOIL, 



rous ramifications of the roots absorb it at all their pores, and 

 in all these respects a calcareous soil is very favourable to the 

 vine. In general, wines made from such soils have much spirit, 

 and the culture of them is so much the more easy as the earth 

 is light and loose ; it has been also observed, that arid soils 

 seem to have been exclusively destined for the vine, as the de- 

 ficiency of water, of vegetable mould, and of fertility, repels 

 the idea of any other culture. 



But there are soils still more favorable to the vine : these 

 are such as are, at the same time, light and sandy or gravelly ; 

 the roots glide easily through a soil which the mixture of light 

 earth and of rounded pebbles renders very permeable ; the bed 

 of gravel which covers the surface of the earth, protects it 

 from the parching heat of the sun, and whilst the vine and the 

 fruit receive the benign influence of that planet, the root be- 

 ing suitably nourished, supplies the sap necessary for the ad- 

 vancement of vegetation. Soils of this character are called 

 by the different titles of gravelly, freestone, stony, sandy, &c. 

 Volcanic soils yield also delicious wines ; and it is mentioned 

 by Chaptal, that he had possessed opportunities of observing 

 in many of the southern parts of France, that the most vi- 

 gorous vines and the choicest wines, were the produce of vol- 

 canic remains. These primitive soils having been a long 

 time operated upon in the bosom of the globe by subterranean 

 fires, present us with a close combination of almost every 

 principle of the soils of the earth, these being perfectly inter- 

 mingled, half vitrified, and decomposed by the combined ef- 

 fects of air and water, furnish all the elements requisite for 

 favourable vegetation, and the heat with which they have been 

 impregnated, seems to impart itself successively to all the plants 

 which are cultivated on them. The Tokay wines, and also 

 the finest Italian wines, are produced on volcanic remains. 

 The last bishop of Agde cleared away and planted with 

 vines the old volcano of the mountain at the foot of which 

 that ancient city is situated, and these plantations now form 

 one of the richest vineyards of that district. 



There are places on the widely varied surface of our globe 



