240 DISTANCES TO BE OBSERVED IN PLANTING, 



in festoons from one tree to another. The intermediate soil 

 is usually cultivated in grain or vegetables. This species of 

 culture when it is properly attended to, produces an effect very 

 pleasing to the eye. In some parts of Italy, this mode of cul- 

 tivation is pursued by planting dead trees to support the vine, 

 which last twelve or fifteen years. In Trevisan, they make 

 large trenches at twenty feet apart, and ten feet from each 

 tree, which are planted in quincunx. They put -therein four 

 vines two feet and a half from each other, which are after- 

 wards trained along until they approach the trees that are 

 to support them ; this practice is much recommended. 



One of the most advantageous and agreeable modes of culti- 

 vating the vine, is to plant it in quincunx or in a line, with trees 

 alternately, which must be kept very low, say two or three feet 

 high only, and on which are left a small number of shoots an- 

 nually ; the distance between the trees to be ten feet. The vines 

 must be pruned in such manner that they may have every year six 

 branches, each one of which is to be attached to the tree near- 

 est to it. These branches form festoons, producing quantities 

 of grapes which are near enough to the earth to enjoy the bene- 

 fit of the heat emanating from it, and are not deprived of that 

 of the sun. Maples have been generally employed for this 

 purpose, but some eminent writers prefer the hawthorn, be- 

 cause its growth is more slow, it also accommodates itself to 

 poorer soils, and its foliage does not cause so much shade. 

 Vines thus trained are to be found in the island of Madeira. 



It has been a matter of surprise that this practice, so in ac- 

 cordance with theory, has not been more generally adopted ; 

 for if living trees were deemed objectionable, stakes could be 

 used to supply their places. There are indeed some localities 

 where they substitute for trees, poles of the size of a man's 

 arm, six or eight feet in height, and divided or forked towards 

 the top. These are sunk deep in the earth, at the distance 

 of six or eight feet, and at the foot of each is planted a vine 

 whose shoots are conducted from one to the other by degrees 

 in the form of festoons. In some of the most southern de- 

 partments of France, the vines are planted very distant from 



