THE VINE IN CHAMPAGNE. 805 



Toward the end of May, and especially about the beginning of June, 

 commences the training of the vines. All the branches of the same 

 stock are tied by the same baud to the supports (stakes). It is the cus- 

 tom to cut off the shoots which do not reach the ligature at a leaf above 

 the last grape, and to cut off short those which do not show any sign 

 of fruit. After the vines have been secured to the stakes and have been 

 carefully hoed around their roots the tops are broken off at a shoot to 

 prevent them from growing above the regulation height, which is 

 usually from 30 to 33 inches. 



The cultivators regard the numerous stakes which support the vines 

 as affording some protection against the dreaded white frosts of spring, 

 but I think there can be placed but little, if any, reliance in such a 

 source of protection. These frosts invariably occur between early 

 dawn and sunrise, and, to guard against them, some cultivators place 

 heaps of hay, refuse, dead leaves and branches, etc., about 6 or 7 rods 

 apart, taking care to keep them moderately damp to prevent too rapid 

 combustion. When a frost is feared the heaps on the side of the vine- 

 yard from whence the wind blows are set on fire, and the dense smoke 

 spreads over the vines, and is said to produce the same results as an 

 actual cloud, warming the atmosphere and converting the frost into 

 dew. In case there is no wind blowing, all the surrounding heaps are 

 set on fire and the desired effects obtained. There are other methods 

 of protection against frosts employed, such as roofing the vines over 

 with a straw matting about 1J feet in width and in rolls of considerable 

 length, etc., but the system of creating a dense, warm smoke, as stated, 

 appears to be most in favor. 



Besides the plowing, which a good cultivator is never afraid of re- 

 peating too often at this season, it is useful toward the end of June to 

 give the ground a second delving. This second digging over (it is gen- 

 erally finished by the first week of July), it is well to prune the lower 

 "eyes" which have sprouted since the first operation of the kind, it 

 always being considered desirable and important to prevent, so far as 

 possible, the growth of superfluous woody matter, which tends to draw 

 nourishment from the growing fruit and injure its development. This 

 is a matter which I believe should more earnestly engage the attention 

 of vine-growers in the United States with profit to themselves and sat- 

 isfaction of their customers, in being able to procure well-developed and 

 consequently luscious fruit. 



From the 20th of July to the 15th of August the heat is too great 

 to permit of work in the vines, which in fact are now in no need of par- 

 ticular attention, except it be a little digging if the weather be rainy. 

 The vine-grower makes use of this time to make use of his magazines ; 

 this is the name given in the champagne country to the heaps of fertil- 

 izing matters which he collects at the side turnings from the roads or 

 other places as near as possible to the vines, and which fertilizing mat- 

 ters are composed chiefly of a kind of compost formed of the loose 



