10 THE GRAPE. 



mitage from a granite ; and Chateauneuf from a Bandy 

 soil. A slaty soil produces Yin de la Grande ; a sandy 

 one Graves and Me doc, and a slaty one the wine of 

 Lamalgue, near Toulon.* 



This variety of soil might lead one to imagine that 

 all soils are equally suited to the cultivation of the 

 vine. Such, however, is not the case ; but as it is 

 possible on the one hand that the principal consti- 

 tuents may be the same in apparently different soils, 

 so, on the other hand, by the addition of vegetable 

 matters, the difference of the soil may be adjusted or 

 compensated. Inorganic vine manures are as impor- 

 tant to the plant as the soil itself. The organic 

 manure is also of consequence to the plant ; if it is 

 very nourishing, a larger quantity of wine will be pro- 

 duced, but the wine will not be so well scented nor 

 so well tasted. 



It is remarkable that fetid manures, such as fecal 

 matters and the mud of great towns, exercise a very 

 prejudicial influence on the odour of the wine, while, 

 on the contrary, manures which are inodorous and 

 putrefy slowly, such as wool, horn, and bone black, 

 conduce very much to its fragrance. The putrefying 



* According to Peretti, iron and copper are found in the wine 

 produced near Rome. (Journ. de Ch. Med. 1832, p". 92.) Peretti has 

 convinced himself that these metals were not admitted during the 

 preparation of the wine. He evaporates the wine, burns the residue, 

 and extracts the ashes by means of nitric acid, in which the metals 

 are held in solution. Iron is known to exist in wine, and is there- 

 fore not remarkable ; but up to this time no one else has asserted 

 the presence of copper. 



