THE GRAPE. 21 



wine. On this account vines are not allowed to grow 

 high, but are kept down, sometimes as low as three 

 feet. Any one may easily be convinced that the 

 grapes will ripen and develope better the nearer they 

 are to the ground. The reason is, that they are ex- 

 posed to the rays of the sun reflected back from the 

 ground, and that the process of ripening is carried on 

 through the evenings and nights by the warmth which 

 is exhaled from the earth. 



Let no one imagine that the vines are kept short 

 in order to obtain a greater quantity of grape juice ; 

 for in the beautiful vine districts of South France, 

 where in many places the vines are allowed to grow 

 to the height of two metres (6^ feet), a great 

 quantity of juice is secured, but the wine prepared 

 from it is much worse than that obtained in the same 

 region and from the same kind of grapes when the 

 vines are kept shorter.* 



The kind of grape is another cause of the great 

 variety existing among wines. We know that the 

 influence exercised by the nature of the plant itself 

 upon its productions, depends to a certain extent, if 

 not entirely, upon the circumstances in which it is 

 placed during growth. Apples and pears may serve as 



* On an average, they reckon in the vine districts of France, to the 

 hectare (2^ acres) of ground, in the region of Toulouse, 462 gallons, 

 (21 hectolitres,) in that of Gaillac 352, (16,) and a yearly total of 979 

 million gallons, (44^ million hectolitres;) while in all the German 

 states the yearly consumption is given at 58^ million gallons, (2f mil- 

 lions of hectolitres.) 



