Planting of a Vineyard. 97 



and fine quality of the product. This shade .also pre- 

 vents the soil from being warmed, and delays the 

 ripening of the grapes. Moreover, the plants thus 

 crowded, mutually starve one another, and they have 

 frequently to be renewed by layering, which increases 

 the expense and injures the quality of the product. — 

 The tillage of the ground is more difficult and conse- 

 quently more expensive. The staking also increases 

 the expense considerably. 



Lastly, we must add, that owing to the continual rise 

 in the rate of wages, the plow must be substituted for 

 manual labor wherever the lay of the land will permit 

 its use ; but the system of crowding the vines, adopted 

 in the North, is an obstacle to this improvement. 



On the other hand, too much space must not be left 

 between the plants ; for if, when planted much further 

 apart, they each yield more and more abundantly, it 

 may nevertheless so happen that the product will not be 

 equal, in quantity, to that obtained from a larger num- 

 ber of plants. Besides, too large a space being left be- 

 tween the vines will so increase their growth, that the 

 grapes will ripen badly in the North, and the wines will 

 be of very inferior quality. 



Let us, then, see how nearly we can reconcile these 

 two extremes. The smallest spac§ which will allow 

 the easy working of the plow between the rows of 

 plants is three and a half feet. We have, therefore, no 

 change to suggest on that point, as to the vineyards of 

 the South. But this is not the case with the northern 

 and middle latitudes adapted to the vine. Nevertheless, 

 by laying out the rows of plants, and the plants in the 



rows in a certain manner, which we shall point out fur- 

 I 



