262 Vineyard Culture. 



At all periods means have been sought to protect 

 vineyards from the effects of the late frosts, and the 

 aim of all the processes employed with this view has 

 been to prevent the radiation of heat. Let us examine 

 the principal ones. 



The vine-dressers of Champagne, who drive in as 

 many as twenty-four thousand stakes per acre, attribute 

 to these stakes a certain preservative action against 

 white frosts. It may, indeed, be the fact that these 

 stakes, being so close together, oppose radiation to a cer- 

 tain extent. They may also act in delaying the thaw, 

 by the shade they cast. We must, however, acknowl- 

 edge that this means is very inadequate. Nevertheless, 

 it is with this end in view that the vine-dressers of 

 Champagne hasten to set up the stakes before the late 

 frosts occur. Attempts have also been made to cover 

 the vineyard with a cloud of smoke, which, producing 

 the same effects as natural clouds, might prevent radia- 

 tion. The process is this : At the period when late 

 frosts begin to be apprehended, there are placed around 

 each piece of vineyard, which must not exceed twenty- 

 five acres in extent, heaps of bad litter, bad hay, brush- 

 wood, dried leaves, dandelion roots, etc., which are kept 

 rather damp, and placed at distances of about sixty-five 

 feet apart. This being done, account is taken of the 

 weather. If the wind blows from any direction be- 

 tween north-west and south-east, and the sky be clear, 

 frost is to be apprehended. In this case, early in the 

 morning, before day-light, fire is set to the heaps of 

 brushwood accumulated on that side of the vineyard 

 whence the wind blows. There soon rises a thick 

 smoke, which, being conveyed by the current of air, 



