220 Vineyard Culture. 



cost of working by hand, and by the plow : we will 

 now compare the two methods in regard to price. 



The question being decided in favor of the plow, in 

 almost all the vineyards of the South, we will now con- 

 cern ourselves only with those districts where this mode 

 of cultivation is not yet adopted. 



In Champagne, only one dressing is performed, which 

 costs six dollars per acre. 



If the vines are planted in alleys, as we have ex- 

 plained above, and the Messager plow is substituted for 

 hand implements-, there will be a total expenditure of 

 two dollars and fifty-six cents per acre, for the two 

 plowings, and dressings by hand along the lines. This 

 gives a difference of three dollars and forty-four cents 

 per acre in favor of the plow. 



In Burgundy, the price of the two dressings is six 

 dollars and seventy-five cents per acre. With the plow 

 it would cost two dollars and fifty-six cents : difference 

 in favor of the plow, four dollars and twenty cents per 

 acre. 



In the moorlands {palus) of Bordelais, and on the 

 hills on the right bank of the Garonne, below Bordeaux, 

 the two dressings cost nine dollars per acre. If we em- 

 ploy the Messager plow, we shall have an expenditure 

 of three dollars and twenty cents, owing to the greater 

 depth of plowing. This gives us a difference of five 

 dollars and eighty cents per acre. 



The substitution of the plow for manual labor has the 

 immense advantage of obviating the difficulty arising 

 from the want of hands, and of diminishing the cost of 

 cultivation in a considerable ratio. 



It has been said that the plow is only advantageous 



