CLIMATE FOR THE VINE AND FIG. 189 



same or nearly the same as that of the Kheingau 

 and the Palatinate, it is not nearly so hot as in 

 these latter districts, because here the hotter days 

 alternate with colder nights. In Bretagne and 

 Normandy the nights are less cold, and the days, 

 on the other hand, are less warm than in the 

 regions to the south of Nantes, Paris, Eheims, 

 Luxemburg, and Treves. 



Tins circumstance explains why the cultivation 

 of the vine, which, though it requires a mean 

 temperature no higher than 9°C. (48 0, 2P.), must 

 have a warm and long summer, cannot be carried on 

 in Prance beyond a little to the north of a line drawn 

 through the cities which I have just mentioned. It 

 explains, too, why the fig, which will not grow under 

 a mean temperature of 9° C, but does not require 

 so great a heat as the vine does to ripen its fruit, 

 yet grows extensively and thrivingly in Normandy. 

 In Germany the growth of the vine extends con- 

 siderably farther to the north than in France, 

 generally beyond 50° N. L., and, in certain parts 

 of Eastern Germany, even so far as to nearly 52^° 

 N. L. But, in fact, the grapes ripen only in 

 favourable years ; that is, in such as afford many 

 warm days, and especially hot days in September, 

 even at the cost of coldish nights ; for in general, 

 the mean summer temperature of one year differs 

 but little from that of another. Partner in the 

 interior of the old continent, in Russia and in Asia, 

 the vine is not again found in cultivation so far 



