CHAPTER XIL 



OF PROPPING OR SUPPORTING. 



The use of props is not general ; in some vine-yards they only tie 

 together the stems at top, without giving them any other support 

 than they lend to each other ; this practice was in use among the 

 Grecians. But in the greater number of vineyards, especially those 

 in the northern departments, propping is looked upon as one of the 

 most profitable modes of cultivating the Vine. A long pole or prop 

 or post is put down beside each stock and the large shoots are tied to 

 it with straw, or rushes, or osiers. There is a diversity of opinion on 

 this subject among our most celebrated vine-growers. Those who are 

 in favor of it, say that a propped Vine yields wine of a superior quali- 

 ty ; that it resists the force of the winds ; that there is a long period 

 during which it can receive tillage ; that it is not subject to being 

 choked up by the weeds ; that the fruit is clean and free from being 

 spattered with dirt by the rains ; that it is less liable to rot ; and is 

 more exposed to the genial influence of the sun. 



According to the others, propping is more injurious than bene- 

 ficial ; that, firstly, wood being scarce and high, it unprofitably swells 

 the list of troubles and expenses attendant on the cultivation; se- 

 condly, that the grapes are held too far from the ground for a fully suffi- 

 cient ripeness ; thirdly, that great and long continued heats render 

 the ascending movement of the sap dilatory, and the elevated stock is 

 therefore not as productive ; fourthly, that the bunches pressed against 

 each other, shade each other too much, and deprive each other of the 

 sun and air ; fifthly, that the post or prop, presses, wounds, breaks 

 or tears the roots, and opens a passage for the rains, which conse- 

 quently makes them mould, and necessarily brings on the rot. 



I shall not discuss or contradict the one or the other. There is both 

 truth and exaggeration on both sides. Custom is law ; whether the 

 prop be planted at the foot of each stock, or whether in the centre of 

 four, trained over it in hive or dome-fashion, the difference is all one 



