202 Vineyard Culture. 



cient quantity of water, feed a very large number of 

 goats, whose milk is used in the manufacture of the 

 cheese of Mont-Dore. 



All these labors are more or less practiced in most 

 vineyards, especially those of the North. As for the 

 vineyards of the South — in Languedoc, for instance — 

 nothing, or next to nothing, is done during the growth 

 of the vine ; and yet, the nipping and clipping of the 

 shoots, and even the thinning of the leaves, performed 

 a little before the vintage, would be as beneficial there 

 as elsewhere, 



[The southern vineyards to which reference is here made, 

 are situated somewhat like our own, as to light and heat in 

 midsummer ; and, from observations made here, upon the 

 effect of summer pruning, with its defoliation, I can not help 

 concluding that this advice of Mr. Du Breuil is of doubtful 

 value. Certainly it can not be applied to our vines, with the 

 prospect of any good results ; on the one hand, it is notori- 

 ous that those vines which retain their foliage the latest — even 

 until frost destroys it — always ripen their wood to the tips ; 

 while, on the other hand, those that cast their leaves, from 

 any cause, always have a considerable amount of immature 

 wood, that dies in the winter. Of course the late and un- 

 timely efforts at growth, and the attempts made by the vine to 

 restore the foliage that has been removed, by bad trimming, or 

 by mildew, will not be likely to ripen perfectly, and such 

 growths are almost sure to be killed in the winter. 



It may be laid down as an axiom, that if the wood do not 

 ripen perfectly, the fruit also, will be inferior, and often 

 worthless.] 



