4o 



distances in search of the nutritious juices destined for the plant, 

 which, by this means, can brave the drought which threatens its 

 existence during the warm season. But in our northern plantations 

 the most auspicious time is when the dangerous period of hard frosts 

 and frequent rains is over, that is, about the 20th of February. To 

 delay it until April, when the earth begins to be warmed by tlie sun ; 

 and when the evaporation of moisture, and of the rains and dews is 

 rapid, leads to much disappointment. The slips perish entirely in 

 dry springs ; and at an)^ rate are disturbed in taking root, and are 

 evidently thrown back, by the stir and movement of the season of 

 germination. 



For setting out, either suckers or layers, or slips, are used. Suck- 

 ers or layers are raised with a root after the vintage ; the slips are 

 from cuttings picked out at the time of pruning. The Vines are put 

 down in straight lines where the descent is not too rapid, in curves 

 or amphitheatre-like where there is a great declivity. The plants 

 should be about ten feet from each other in the line, and between each 

 Jine should be left an interval of four and an half feet; they must 

 be set so as to face one another in every other line, which gives a 

 proportionate distance between them on every side. The layering of 

 layers for a new plantation is very hurtful to the old stocks, owing to 

 their young and vigorous roots wliich drain the parent plant ; it is 

 esteemed better to have recourse to cuttings , they are planted in good 

 fresh ground, and when they take root are easily transplanted. It is 

 well to observe by the way, that the cuttings need not be set out in a 

 rich soil ; when this precaution is neglected in the nurseries of young 

 Vines, the slip sprouts rapidly, the roots shoot far and increase fast ; 

 but when transplanted, it is not often that the new soil is equal to 

 the old ; in which case, to the planters chagrin, his slips dwindle and 

 decline. An opposite treatment insures great vigor and the prospect 

 of long duration to the new Vines. A Vineyard from cuttings lives 

 the longest, and is the most fruitful, one from scions yields sooner. 

 The former mode is preferred by those who know how to sacrifice the 

 present for the future ; the latter by those who must be gratified im- 

 mediately. Those who adopt the former mode have an eye to the 

 prospects of their children as well as themselves ; and such not un- 

 frequently, have their Vineyards renewed every forty years from plan- 

 tations of seedlings. This mode certainly regenerates those primitive 

 quaUties of the species which successive planting from cuttings seems 

 to weaken; the wine acquires a very agreeable bouquet; and the 

 yield is considerable. 



It is best to set a greater number of cuttings than will be v^'anted. 



