264 PROPPING AND TRAINING. 



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Propping and training. 



In a great number of vineyards, ' especially those of the 

 north of France, they place in the ground near the stem of 

 each vine, a pole or stake to which the shoots are tied by 

 means of bands of straw, bass, rushes, or branches of the osier 

 or willow. This practice is considered by them as indispen- 

 sable, but nevertheless there are some who do not pursue it. 

 The advantage of these poles is, that the grapes are better 

 exposed to the benign influence of the solar rays, and that a 

 greater number of vines can be placed on a certain space of 

 ground. 



The principal difficulty which the French find in this course 

 is, that it increases the expense in consequence of the high 

 price at which the poles are sold, the labour necessary for 

 sharpening them, and for placing and displacing them ; also 

 in restraining and straitening the shoots, which are naturally 

 bent, so as to favour the direct ascension of the sap. Not- 

 withstanding the decided preference eatertained for training 

 the vines on poles, various methods are proposed by French 

 writers as substitutes for this practice, on account of the enor- 

 mous quantity of wood which is required, and the rapid dimi- 

 nution of the forests in that country ; but as we labour under 

 no apprehensions from such deficiency, we shall of course pursue 

 that practice. In the vineyards in the environs of Rochelle, 

 and on the declivities near the town of Argence, department 

 of Calvados, no poles are used, and the branches trail on the 

 ground until the grapes are nearly ripe, they are then all 

 raised up and tied together at the top, and thus form their own 

 support ; the fruit being outwards is by this course exposed to 

 the sun, but the crops are inferior and deficient. 



In some French vineyards where the vines are of a very 

 vigorous character, two poles or stakes are used for each, 

 and twice the quantity of wood allowed to the vines, and in 

 others, several slender poles are stuck into the ground around 

 the vine in a circular manner, to each of which a shoot is train- 

 ed or fastened ; but in such cases a proportionably greater 



