THE CULTURE OE THE VINE AT THOMERY. 415 



Fig. 229. 



Low Double Espalier, and Mode of Protecting 

 , the Vines. 



An account of tlie grape growing at this place from tlie pen 

 of M. Rose-Charmeux is likely to convey the most practical 

 information on the 

 subject^ and the fol- 

 lowing is translated 

 from his " Culture 

 de Chasselas — 



"At Thomery the 

 soil is of a sandy and 

 clayey nature, and 

 mixed with pebbles 

 in those parts which 

 are near the river. 

 The soil is at all 

 times easy to work. 

 Near the Seine it 

 lacks depth — so much 

 so, indeed, that be- 

 fore cultivation it has 



to be dug and trenched so as to remove some of the stony 

 subsoil. Everywhere else the layer of vegetable mould 



measures from four feet 

 ^i^- 230. six inches to six feet in 



thickness. This layer 

 lies on a reddish clay of 

 about the same thickness, 

 and beneath the clay is a 

 broken - up stratum of 

 building stone filled with 

 fissures. This building 

 stone is easily extracted. 

 The grapes ripen a fort- 

 night earlier in the flinty 

 districts than in those 

 parts in which the soil 

 is deeper and richer. 

 " The gardens at Thomery, taken altogether, present 

 much the appearance of those of Montreuil-sur-Bois. 

 There is nothing but walls in all directions, distant from 



Section of top of wall at Thomery, showing 

 the projection of the temporary coping. 



