GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



131 



exceed from 2 to 3 pieces per arpent. With such diffi- 

 culties to overcome, the vineyards of Champagne and Bur- 

 gundy are striking examples of the effects of industry and 

 skill. Nothing can contrast more strongly than the small 

 and puny shoots of the vines of Champagne and Bur- 

 gundy, compared with the strong and vigorous branches 

 of the vines of Spain ; yet have the care and skill of the 

 cultivators produced in the former countries a wine equal 

 in value to the best of those produced in the most favoured 

 climates, and, notwithstanding all their losses, much more 

 abundant in quantity. 



Having recorded with so much minuteness my obser- 

 vations on every vineyard and district through which I 

 passed, I will avoid adding to the length of this journal 

 by offering many general remarks. I cannot, however, 

 refrain from observing, that from the albarizas of Xeres, 

 the most southern vineyards of any reputation in Europe, 

 to those of the chalky hills of Champagne, — amongst the 

 most northern, — I met with no vineyard producing dry 

 wines of reputation, which was not, more or less, cal- 

 careous. Although it is acknowledged that two-thirds of 

 the vineyards of France are situated upon soil more or 

 less calcareous, by Chaptal, and other writers upon the 

 subject, they have stated, that provided the soil is porous, 

 free, and light, its component parts are of little conse- 

 quence; and they enumerate granitic, schistose, argil- 

 laceous, flinty, sandy, and calcareous soils, as equally 

 well qualified to produce, and as actually producing, in 

 different parts of France, wines of the finest quality. 

 It appaars evident to me, however, that these writers 

 have in many instances been misled by the representations 

 which have been transmitted to them. As for instance? 



