47 



soil, admits the air, and the penetration of the solar heat, all which 

 increase the sweetness of the grape, and tend to secure its ripemng 

 richly. 



It is, above all, necessary to till the ground frequently in the first 

 years of a new plantation. By keeping the soil loose, it is more easily 

 enriched by the dews and depositions of the air. The ground should 

 be disturbed thoroughly and the roots next the surface cut and torn 

 up ; it gives an added vigor to those which remain, and makes them 

 spread to a greater distance. After which, when the plantation has 

 become a Vineyard to all intents and purposes, it is just as well to give 

 one deep winter ploughing, and two or three dressings with the spade 

 in the course of the summer, to lay down the weeds which are rife. The 

 first dressing is usually practised just before the flewering ; the second 

 when the berry is half filled ; and the third when it has reached its full 

 growth and begins to ripen. Some vine-dressers suppress the last til- 

 lage, and delay the second, which is wrong. 



But it must be understood, that in insisting on the necessity of 

 deep tillage, it is only for loams and clayey soils ; in dry and stony 

 ground the dressing should be light and superficial ; deep digging 

 would favor too much the evaporation of the moisture. In cold 

 ground, with a moist bottom, frequent tillage is higlily efficacious ; in 

 light rich soils, it gives the reflection of the heat too great a play, and 

 renders the vegetation puny. 



Some authors have asserted that tillage disturbs the Vine without 

 profit, and is a useless labour ; Vines planted in gardens, say they, 

 are neither ploughed nor hoed, and yet succeed well, and bear well ; 

 in Spain, on the rocks of Condrieux and through all the Lyonnois 

 they neither plough nor dig, and yet the Vineyards are beautiful and 

 the grapes splendid. I shall first remark in answer, that garden soil 

 is very loose and often moved, consequently tillage is not required by 

 Vines in gardens. The false reasoning in this case, originates m an 

 erroneous idea. But as for Spain, they there till twice in winter and 

 twice in the spring ; they practise beside, in May, a slight hoeing to 

 level the soil, and make a hollow around the stock. They employ for 

 the ploughing a single horse, fastened to the plough of the ancients ; 

 some times the same yoke draws two ploughs, each one held by a la- 

 bourer. At Condrieux and in the Lyonnese district, the Vineyards 

 receive three dressings; one after the pruning or topping, another 

 after the flowering, and the third just before the grape begins to turn. 

 So it is, that writers desirous of building up a system will distort 

 facts, or quote without being certain of them ; and deceive for thp 

 sole satisfaction of deceivina'. 



