262 PLANTING TREES, ECT. IN VINEYARBS. 



versa : it is also the generally received opinion that where maize 

 comes to perfection, the vine will succeed ; but in France and 

 other countries the culture of the latter has been successfully 

 extended much further north than the former. De Candolle 

 remarks, that the most elevated point at which he has found 

 maize grown as a crop, is in the department of the Lower 

 Pyrenees, above the village of Lescans, at about the elevation 

 of one thousand yards. Now if we take our departure from 

 that point which is in the 43 of latitude, and proceed five 

 degrees upon the same meridian line,* we come to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Mans, and to the south of the department of 

 Ille and Vilaine, which is precisely the northernmost point 

 where maize is sown as a crop. 



The vines of Velai, says M. De Candolle, are those which are 

 at the greatest elevation of any I have seen in France, culti- 

 vated as vineyards. The^ elevation of the town of Puy is 

 computed at six hundred and thirty-two yards, and the vine- 

 yards that belong to it go up to about eight hundred. Now 

 if setting out from that point, which is a little beyond 45 of 

 lat. you take four degrees to the north upon the same meri- 

 dian, you come to a stop between Rheims and Epernai, that 

 is to say, very close upon the northernmost limit at which the 

 vine forms a branch of husbandry, the town of Rheims being 

 in lat. 49 30'. 



Planting Trees, <$fc. in Vineyards Hedges to protect them. 



The custom adopted in some wine districts of planting trees 

 in the vineyards, such as the peach, apple, olive, nut, and 

 cherry, is very improper, for as the direct action of the sun is 

 the main essential, in order to mature the high qualities of the 

 grape, the effects of this powerful agent should be in no wise 

 counteracted, and every tree therefore that can interpose a 

 shade and shut out its rays, at the same time that it exhausts 



* I say upon the same meridian line, because it is well known that in the 

 same latitudes there exists a great difference between the east and west of 

 France. 



