430 JOUENAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



is used. A slight preference of late has been shown to the horse, owing 

 to his being a more expeditious, although perhaps a less reliable, worker 

 among the Vines. 



The introduction of steam or electric power for cultivating the land 

 may probably change the system of working vineyards, as it is certainly 

 gradually changing the system of working farm-lands. 



Owing to the invasion of phylloxera, and the consequent scientific 

 discoveries for its prevention or extermination, labour on the vineyards 

 has become continuous throughout the year. It is a common remark 

 amongst the present proprietors of the Medoc, that in their fathers' time 

 the vines were simply pruned, the land ploughed four times a year, and 

 the grapes gathered at the vintage, leaving all else to nature and the 

 seasons. Now, from the moment the grapes are gathered, scarcely a week 

 — certainly not a month — passes, but some process for the defenca of the 

 roots, the stems, or the leaves takes place. 



The systems of training the Vine differ widely, as do also the modes 

 of irrigating its roots, and there is also much difference in the extent of 

 pruning. This latter procedure is one which, after all, means deciding 

 for the plant how much of its energies shall be expended on the wood 

 and leaves and the fruit respectively ; the process, too, having, of course^ 

 its effect upon quality as well. 



Visitors to Italy are impressed by the beauty of vines growling on 

 trellises, but the grapes so grown do not produce wine of high quality. 

 A certain limitation of the spread of the shoots is necessary to produce 

 the best wine. If allowed to spread without being cut back, deterioration 

 of quality is the result. 



It would be impossible to lay down any definite rules on such a point 

 as this to guide those who, in our Colonies, may enter upon the wine 

 industry. They will have to decide the matter in the light of various 

 factors. Labour is one, and a very leading one — how to obtain it, how to 

 use it. The richness or poverty of the soil is another. These and other 

 considerations of cost and relative profit are further subject to lie of 

 ground, soil, and climate. It would fill a very large volume to write at 

 the necessary length all the instructions and suggestions, founded on the 

 variety of modes of culture which even in France alone prevail. For 

 example, in the Medoc the stakes are short and the vines meet between 

 them on two sides, leaving alleys on the other two sides. In the 

 St. Emilion district the poles are as high as eight feet, and one can walk 

 round each stock. In the Champagne district, too, the vines are likewise 

 grown on poles more like hops in this country. What has determined 

 the mode of training in these and other instances requires careful study. 

 It would be, perhaps, misleading to do more than thus mention a few of 

 them. Only a careful investigation of all the conditions present in each 

 district named would furnish an answer to the why and wherefore of each 

 particular case. 



it might be mentioned here that a nursery of young vines is an 

 ndispen sable adjunct to every vineyard, where he slips are rooted, and 

 as yearlings, transplanted to their final standing-place. 



It is to be hoped that our growing enterprise in the Colonies wdU 

 never have to pass through the experience to w^hich the vineyards of Ihe 



