OF ROUSILLON. 



67 



slope the exposure is always to the south. The soil is 

 loose and stony, the stones quartz^ of various colours and 

 shades. 



The stony and least fertile portions of the estate are se- 

 lected for vines. Some of the corn fields are planted at 

 wide intervals with olive trees, but there are none of these 

 among the vines. The distance at which the vines are 

 planted is always four feet, and the quincunx is preserved 

 with the greatest possible exactness. The ground is 

 ploughed twice a year; that is^ immediately after the 

 pruning, which is now going on, and in spring, after the 

 vines have given shoots of eight or ten inches in length. 

 On both occasions it is first ploughed in one direction, 

 and then cross-ploughed. It receives no other labours 

 during the year, and in summer, such is the strength of 

 vegetation generally among the vines, that few weeds 

 make their appearance, the ground being almost covered 

 with the vine shoots. I was much surprised on finding 

 that, with the exception of one field, the only preparation 

 the ground had received previous to having been planted 

 was a common ploughing. The cuttings were then put 

 down in holes made by an iron bar or dibble, and left to 

 shift for themselves. Many of them, as might be ex- 

 pected under such treatment, never came forward, and it 

 requires six years before the vineyard is so well established 

 as to yield a crop. 



On learning this I had no difficulty in accounting for 

 the small progress of the vines I had seen before arriving 

 at Perpignan. There was a plantation of the Muscat of 

 Frontignan, which was now six years old, but in much 

 greater vigour, and with a much greater number of shoots 

 on the vines than was usual. Having remarked this, Mr. 

 Durand informed me, that in planting this field he had 



