ON VINEYARDS. 



199 



cumstance of the greatest importance respecting 

 the plantation of Vineyards. 



Secondly. As I have, in the former part of this 

 work, taken notice of the soil proper for Vines, it 

 may seem unnecessary here to enlarge upon that 

 head. I shall, however, just observe, that the 

 Vine delights in such gravelly and rocky soils as 

 we frequently find on the sides of steep hills and 

 rocks : and that it has sometimes been known to 

 flourish among mere stones and gravel. s 



The similarity of the different strata, which, it is said, form 

 the land on both sides of the British channel, serves to confirm 

 us in this belief. 



Moreover, on the south coast of England the rocks have a 

 southern aspect ; but on the opposite coast of France, I am told, 

 they incline to the north. From thence it is reasonable to 

 conclude, that at the deluge the horizontal stratum (or isthmus) 

 was broken between these countries, and the bed or middle of 

 the channel falling lowest, the sea naturally flowed into it, and 

 formed what is now called the British Channel. 



s " Concerning the soil proper for Vines, I shall give the 

 first hint from that ingenious and candid piece of Mr. Law- 

 rence's, where, with so much good reason, he tells us, that he 

 cannot easily be brought to think that any soil or situation 

 can be too dry for the roots of the Vine, after having seen at 

 Barnvoall, near Oundle, in Northamptonshire, a flourishing Vine 

 grow, from between the joints of an old castle wall, near twenty 

 feet high from the ground, which, he was told, produced ad- 

 mirable grapes when it was well managed." Netv Improve- 

 ments of Planting and Gardening, by Richard Bradley, 

 F.R.S. p. 187. 



To the above, the following account from a celebrated author 

 may be added : 



o 4* 



