198 



ON VINEYARDS. 



spots where nature has given important advantages, 

 and these should be still further improved by art. 



Plantations of forest trees, judiciously formed, 

 would contribute much to give warmth and shelter ; 

 but these should not be placed too near the Vine- 

 yard, so as to confine the air, which would prove 

 very prejudicial. 



We are informed that, in wine countries, vine- 

 yards are not only confined to gentle declivities, 

 but that they often are formed on slopes on the 

 sides of hills and rocks, which are sometimes so 

 steep as even to border upon precipices : and that 

 vineyards, thus situated, produce grapes uncom- 

 monly rich, yielding wines of the most excellent 

 quality. e 



I am informed, too, that the hills in the counties 

 bordering upon the English channel, have, in 

 general, declivities tending to the south f : a cir- 



e In the neighbourhood of Piera, there is an eminent hill, 

 the southern side of which is so steep, that people are obliged to 

 lay hold of ropes fixed to strong poles, in order to keep them- 

 selves upright, while they stalk from Vine to Vine, to pluck the 

 grapes that cover all that side. Should they trust themselves 

 there without the help of those ropes, the least remissness of 

 attention in stepping might cause a very mischievous tumble. 

 I wonder how people could take it into their heads to plant 

 Vines on so inconvenient a spot : but the trouble of the vint- 

 agers, is very well repaid by the goodness of those grapes, which 

 yield the most excellent wine that is drank in Catalonia." — 

 Barettis Travels, vol. 4. p. 72. 



f It is a general and received opinion, that this island was 

 originally united with, and formed a part of, the continent. 



