838 FEUIT CULTURE IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 



varieties grown, of which two-thirds (or 100) produce raisins and grapes 

 for table use, and, with the others, the grapes are made into wine. 



The systems of cultivation are not less numerous than the varieties 

 of vines. There are vines disposed in the French system, trained low 

 and in rows at a meter (3 feet 3 inches) distance one from the other, 

 supported by iron wire or stakes; low vines placed in rows on the 

 edges of fields; vines stretched between maple trees, elm trees, or 

 poplar trees ; low vines in rows over the trees, and in the neighbor- 

 hood of Pistoia and Lucca many vine arbors. 



Vines are reproduced sometimes with sprigs, but generally by shoots 

 left free for two years in the ground, which should be well dug at the 

 commencement and end of each summer. The third year the shoots are 

 dressed and the most vigorous selected. Two or three years later the 

 vines are affixed to stakes and the year following the grapes appear. 

 Ditches measuring 1.20 meters (4 feet) in width and depth are dug for 

 planting vines at a distance varying from 60 to 70 centimeters (2 feet) 

 for rows with low vines, the distance being less on the hillside than in 

 the plains. 



At Val di Nievole, in the middle of a field surrounded by vines, a 

 row of mulberry trees is always to be found, and on the sea-coasts of the 

 Lucchese olive trees are to be seen along the edges and rows of vines 

 in the interior of the fields. Olives and vines are often grown together. 



The pruning of the vine is done before or after winter. For vines 

 united to trees, two systems of pruning are in use, viz piegatoio, or 

 tralciaia, and penzana, or catena. The former is the most common, and 

 consists in twisting two vigorous shoots, to which twenty or more cuts 

 have been made, and tied to a supporting branch with the extremity 

 turned down. For the latter the shoots are preserved much longer, 

 twisted with another vine and supported by another stake. Low vines 

 are usually pruned on the system "cornetto," viz, with two, three, or 

 four cuts, according to the variety, and while growing they require the 

 taking off of the tops of the shoots, they being tied to a stake whenever 

 they are 50 or 60 centimeters (1 foot 8 inches or 2 feet) long, and tied 

 again when they have reached the height of the stake; and finally 

 twisting the extremities of one vine with another, so as to make an arch, 

 which last operation is made when the grape is already completely 

 formed. In the vineyards managed according to the French system the 

 soil is spaded in the spring, and also in August, and e'ach year well ma- 

 nured. The vine thrives throughout all Italy, needing a sunny expo- 

 sure in northern Italy, while in the middle and the south it thrives 

 equally well in valley, table, or hill-side lands, but jtrofers a rough soil, 

 far from moist or foggy localities, and avoiding ground excessively com- 

 pact or clayey. Stony soil, if sufSciently watered, is well adapted to 

 vine culture. 



\Ym. L. Welsh, 



United States Consulate, Consul. 



Florence,, March 17, 1884. 



