OF ROUSILLON. 



69 



although it still continues a matter of surprise that they 

 should produce at all, considering the great hardness of 

 the subsoil, and the slight hold of it which is originally 

 given them. Part of the vineyard had already been pruned, 

 and two men were busy in apart which we visited., There 

 had been fourteen men employed the day before ; but this 

 was the fite day of the neighbouring village, and only two 

 of the men had come. It requires a man ten days to 

 prune a hectare. The instrument which they use is con- 

 trived to give, in some degree, the purchase of a lever. 



With the edge A they cut with great 

 care the shoots where a bud is left for 

 the following season ; but the superfluous 

 shoots are chopped off with the blunt edge 

 B with very little ceremony. I took this 

 opportunity to request that Mr. Durand would give me 

 a parcel of cuttings of all the kinds of vines he possessed ; 

 and he immediately gave orders to his steward accordingly. 



Between twelve and one o'^clock we returned to the 

 house, and after a substantial dejeuner a la fourchette^ 

 visited the wine-cellar. Along the wall, on each side of 

 the cellar, are arranged a number of large vats, containing 

 from thirty to fifty barriques — that is, from 1800 to 3000 

 gallons each ; the whole number was fourteen or sixteen. 

 They were placed horizontally, with one end to the wall. 

 Above them, on each side, is a floor or platform, which is 

 on a level with a door that opens to the cellar from a 

 higher side ; by this door the grapes are brought in. On 

 the platform are several troughs, about 10 feet long, by 

 ^7 feet wide, with the side sloping inwards. Above the 

 bottom of the trough there is a false bottom, perforated 

 with holes, and divided by open spaces, which allow the 

 hquid to pass to the true bottom, whence it flows, by a 



