l8o Vineyard Culture. 



introduced, by using lath, similar to those prepared for the 

 plasterers, except that they are made six feet long. This 

 makes the trellis lighter, cheaper, and of a more convenient 

 hight — seven feet. There is economy, also, in the smaller 

 nails, as four-pennies may be substituted for six-pennies. 

 The lumber for the lath should be well selected. An econom- 

 ical arrangement is also employed in making the posts, by 

 using common hemlock scantling, three by four inches, spiked 

 on to a short piece of locust or cedar, that is set in the 

 ground. 



The expense of this kind of trellis is estimated at $300 per 

 acre, which appears sufficiently high ; much will depend upon 

 the relative cost of materials in different parts of the 

 country.] 



IX. 



OPERATIONS OTHER THAN PRUNING. 



T AYiNG Down the Plants. — In the vineyards of 

 Champagne, the vines, being irregularly planted, 

 are so close that they mutually starve one another, and 

 it becomes necessary, in order to maintain their fruitful- 

 ness, to submit them to the operation which, in that re- 

 gion, is called laying down. Every year, at the time 

 of the winter plowing, each of the plants is laid bare 

 on one side, and is then laid down into this small 

 trench, so as to bury it to the depth of three or four 

 inches, in order that the two finest shoots nearest to the 

 base, A [Fig. 39], may be buried about two inches 

 from where they spring. At the time of pruning, only 

 these two shoots are preserved. The others are cut at 

 B, while on the two shoots. A, only two eyes are re- 



