296 IMPLEMENTS O* LABOUR. 



the intervals, this practice is beneficial in humid soils; but 

 hear Paris, the course is directly the reverse ; for the vines 

 are planted in trenches which do not get filled up for many 

 years. There is in the vicinity of Paris, a mode of working 

 vineyards which merits notice. Immediately after the poles 

 are taken down, which is in November, they take off the sur- 

 face of the soil with the pick axe, to the depth of two or three 

 inches, and form this earth into small heaps in the intervals 

 between the vines. After the pruning is completed, which is 

 early in the spring, they give a deep digging to the vines, in 

 which operation the heaps referred to are scattered again. 



Implements of labour. 



The labour bestowed on the vine varies in many respects 

 in almost every vineyard. In many of the southern depart- 

 ments of France, they use the plough ; in the north, the hoe 

 and pick-axe of various forms, and sometimes even the spade 

 and pitch-fork. The plough is particularly recommended for 

 economy, and next to it no instrument expedites the work as 

 well as the mattock used in the neighbourhood of Paris, of which 

 the iron plate is a foot in length, and six inches in breadth, and 

 the handle bent and very short ; but it always forces the la- 

 bourer to stoop very much while working, and fatigues him 

 extremely. In our extensive stores of agricultural imple- 

 ments, are to be found various articles applicable to the vine 

 culture, among which one called the " Cultivator" seemswell 

 calculated for the purpose, others are so constructed as to per- 

 form the work of many hoes at the same time, and at a com- 

 paratively great saving of labour. I merely touch on this 

 subject to awaken the minds of vignerons to a proper selec- 

 tion, and to the consideration whether we may not select more 

 suitable and economical implements for the purpose than 

 such as are usually recommended or now in use. 



French writers state, that of the three principal sorts of 

 hoes, that which has a square iron answers best for compact 

 soils, where there are few stones ; the triangular one for those 

 of the same character that are stony, and that with two or 



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