CHAPTER IV. 



THE CULTURE OF THE VINE 



The greater number of those who have written on the Vine, have 

 contented themselves with simply describing the culture in use in 

 their own quarters ; and from that deduced principles and methods, 

 which they want to see applied as general rules for all vineyards. 

 There are, indeed, general principles which may be apphed in all 

 cases ; but every soil and every position, we may even say, every cor- 

 ner of the same hectare, demands some difference in the plantings til- 

 lage, or manuring, with regard to the ground, its direction, nature, 

 bottom, exposure, and a crowd of accidental circumstances. The 

 proprietor soon learns to calculate these chances and apply regular 

 rules to them and it is his province to discern between those which 

 may prove useful and those which are defective. 



But there is one great question to be resolved on the mode of cul- 

 ture : it is one of importance, as the ripening of the grape depends 

 upon it ; it is on the height to which the stock should be trained . 

 Some prefer that it should be kept tall, and spiry ; others low and 

 running. To ascertain which is right, we must examine without pre- 

 judice, well appreciating the real motives of both parties; after whicli 

 I shall give the result of my own observation, supported by the expe- 

 rience of several proprietors, men of sense and instruction. 



Of the TALL-STOCK, OR RUNNING ViNE. 



The mode of cultivating the vine by festooning and supporting i-. 

 on trees and palissades comes to us from the ancient Romans : i: 

 is still peculiar to Upper Italy ; and to the departments of Isere, 

 Drome, Alpes, Basses Pyrennes, Bas-Rhin, Charente-Inferieure, and 

 Arriege, which received it from the first Roman Colonies. The man- 

 ner is this ; either one or two vine slips are set out near a mulberry, 

 '!herry, elm or maple ; if only one. it entwines its long'stems among 



