75 



Gaillardon is of opinion that deep cultivation diminishes the aromatic 

 taste to be met with in some Algerian wines, which he considers to 

 be due to the presence of debris of aromatic plants in the surface soil. 

 It is quite possible that the same rule might apply in Australia, where 

 the debris of Eucalyptus leaves which have been collecting on the 

 ground for thousands of years may be responsible for the "Australian 

 taste " with which many of our wines are sometimes reproached by 

 European connoisseurs. The freedom from peculiar taste of wines 

 grown on sandhills where no Eucalypti exist tends to confirm this 

 theory. The depth of the preliminary cultivation depends upon the 

 climate. The warmer and drier this is the deeper ought it to be. 

 Vines growing in a warm climate attaining a far greater development 

 than is the case in a cold one, the roots, which spread more or less 

 equally in every direction, require a deep soil. In addition to this, it 

 may be mentioned that the deeper the soil is worked the lighter will 

 the resulting wine be. 



If we examine what is usually done in France we will find that in 

 the northern parts the preliminary cultivation is extremely shallow, 

 whilst in the warmer and drier south it is very deep, except in certain 

 parts where a thin layer of soil rests on broken limestone, easily pene- 

 trable by the roots of the vine. Such soils, called " Garrigues" prevail 

 in Languedoc and part of the Herault and Pyrenees Orientales, and 

 this accounts for the small depth to which they break up the soil in 

 these places. The following are the ordinary depths to which the 

 soil is broken in some of the leading wine countries of Europe : 



Provence (southern France) ... ... 30in. to 39in. 



Hermitage ... ... 50in. 



Douro (Portugal) ... ... ... 39in. to 59in. 



Cyprus (island of) ... ... ... 28in. to 32in. 



Bordeaux (medium climate of France) ... 24in. 



Beaujolais ... 24in. 



Burgundy (cooler part of France) ... 14in. 



Champagne ... 12in. to 24in. 



Canton de Vaud (Switzerland) ... 36in. to 39in. 



In Australia it would never pay to subsoil land to such depths, on 

 account of the high price of labour, and the following will be found 

 quite sufficient for each region. 



First or cool region from 12 to 18 inches ; second region, 18 to 24 

 inches; and third region, 24 to 30 inches. 



