8 CULTIVATION 



be ranked among the most valuablcj which in 

 Britain would be absolute waste; in Pellecoy 

 1 passed vineyards so steep, that it is strange how 

 men can stand at their work — one-third of the 

 country under vines planted on absolute rocks, but 

 calcareous (limy.) In Cohors, nineteen-twentieths 

 tinder vines, many of them more than two hundred 

 years old." Hills in the neighborhood of ponds^ 

 rivers, or the ocean, where the leaves can readily 

 imbibe moisture, are friendly to the vine. If the 

 soil is humid, cold or clayey, thorough underdrain- 

 ing must be accomplished, before the vine can 

 flourish. Wild vines growing in wet alluvial 

 positions, when transplanted and cultivated in dry 

 soil, are sensibly improved; the grapes become 

 thinner skinned, the seeds less and the *pulp softer 

 and sweeter. It is ascertained that on the summit 

 of hills or elevated ground, the temperature is more 

 mild and uniform than in the valleys beneath; 

 consequently such locations are better adapted to 

 the grape, as weU as to the apple, peach and other 

 fruit. Dr. Kirtland of Ohio, has applied the test 

 of science to this subject. He stationed himself 

 on a hill with a thermometer, lantern and watch, 

 on a night when a severe frost was expected; while 

 his brother stood with a thermometer, lantern and 

 watch in the valley below. Each made and 

 recorded observations, every half-hour during the 

 night, and the result was as follows. From sun- 

 down until nine o'clock, both thermometers indica- 

 ted the same degree of temperature. At nine 



