THE CULTURE OF THE GKAPE, 171 



nearest the road is of a brown loam of sufficient consist- 

 ency, but full of gravel, and, consequently, very friable. 

 The gravel consists of small broken pieces of the whitish 

 limestone, of which the hill is partly formed. At the 

 highest limit to which the ground has been broken up, it 

 is alight-colcirod clayisb-Iooking soil, with a subsoil of marl 

 and abundance of small shells. Both of these soils efferves- 

 ced strongly with an acid, but the light-colored evidently 

 contains a far greater proportion of lime. The soils of 

 Beze, another first-rate vineyard of the commune of Gev- 

 ray. were exactly similar to that of the lower part of 

 Chambertin." — Ihid. 



Several other vineyards are described as having the 

 same soil. 



Ay, . the centre of the district which produces the 

 Champaigne wine, is a small town on the river Marne. 

 " The range of hills above the town of Ay is exposed to 

 the full south, except where the exposure is varied by 

 recesses in the range ; it consequently produces wine of 

 the finest quality, and very superior to thiat of Epernay, 

 which is produced on hills exposed to the north. The 

 soil is strongly calcareous, full of small pieces of chalk 

 and of stones. Near the top of the hill, the soil is more 

 argillaceous." — Ihid. 



" At Argenteuil, the vignerons pay the utmost attention 

 . to their plaiitations ; indeed, their mode of cultivation, 

 at least as relates to productiveness, may be regarded as 

 approaching to the perfection of the art. 



"They apply manure very freely; btit this practice, 

 though it swells their recoZ^e, is thought to deteriorate the 

 quality of the grapes. Poudrette is much used, which is 



