34 



the provaiiing method of the low stock has been adopted : and it seems 

 the most natural, and is the most easy and advantageous. 



It has undergone many different modifications, however ; sometimes 

 the plants are supported on props from 1 to 3 feet high ; again the 

 whole Vine is trailing, one stem laying over another ; or the stock 

 is kept so short that it stands alone, and the branches trail ; otherwise, 

 some slender poles or stakes are stuck into the ground around the 

 plant, forming a circle, around which circle the stems are led and fas- 

 tened. In the departments of Bouches-du-Rhone, Gard, Herault, 

 Aube, and indeed in almost all the most southerly ones, the slips 

 are kept verj far apart, and their stock, which bears the yearling 

 wood, is allowed about two feet of heighth, clear of branches. These 

 are called running Vines. In the environs of Grenoble, Lyons, Au- 

 tiin, Auxerre, Troyes, Orleans, Agen, Albo, Cahors, in all Medoc, 

 and even in some Vineyards of Rheims and Laon, the Vines 

 are fastened to low trellises, either in rows very wide apart, or a 

 trellise to each stock, but both raised only about 1 foot above the 

 ground. 



On the hills near the burgh d' Argence (department du Calvados) 

 and also in the environs of Rochelle, no props are used, and the Vines 

 lie on the ground till the fruit is nearly ripe ; then the ends of the 

 branches are gathered together and tied, and the whole forms a heap, 

 on which the grapes are outwards ; they are thus exposed to the sun, 

 but the wine is scanty and of a common sort. The young Vines of 

 Bordeaux, Lyons, Angers, &c. which used to be kept in this man- 

 ner are now tied against a prop, because the shoots are very long, 

 and have not strength enough to support themselves. 



Counter-espalier Training. 



Roger Schabol, who was so well versed in the art of gardening, 

 is the inventor of this system, which is now adopted in a great many 

 of our departments. It consists in disposing the plants in parallel 

 rows, athwart, so that they may enjoy the sun equally. The train- 

 ing is performed at the third or fourth year from the setting out, in 

 counter-espalier mode ; strong posts, four feet high, are planted in 

 straight lines, the rows six feet apart ; about mid-high on these 

 posts, and running from one end to the other of the row, there is 

 a range of slender rests laid crosswise, and at top, another range 

 laid in a straight line. When the Vines are fit to bind (m place of 

 training the shoots vertically or perpendicularly, as is done when 

 they are bound to props, or even when they are fastened to such trelli- 



