then turning colour more to the fun, and to .accelerate j 
the ripening of it. 
N. l3 e What is faid above in relation to the leaving 
more than one head , and the ordering thereof , only re- 
lates to fnch as are in vineyards on the plains and hills ; 
for in the mountains , as their fakes are fircnger and thick- 
er , they affix fame wood work to them ; on which frame 
they run two and fometimes three heads , making the fhape 
of a wheel. 
Here aljo it may be proper to obferve , 'That all landlords 
of vineyards , at letting them , ever referve to themf elves 
the privilege of vifiting them at their plea fire , to fee if 
they are duly dreffed , and not more eyes left to a Vine than 
there ought to be •, for it is pcjfble , in three years time , 
only by pruning , Jpoil the kef vineyard that is, pafi 
almoft the power of art to recover it , and at the fame 
time make it yield much wine ; for it is but leaving infead 
of one or two eyes , five or fix ; and of three or four , 
eight or nine , and it will be reduced unto fo weak and ex- 
haufied a fate, and the Vines fo run into wood, that it 
will be pafi recovery ; and the only method is to cut the 
Vines down a foot of fix inches under ground , and rear 
up a new foot, which, befdes the time that will be lofl 
in fo doing , will hardly after all, prove effectual. And 
this manner of pernicious pruning the Italians call a lafeia 
podera, which in Englifi, is quit farm, which is a proper 
term enough. 
As for the time of dreffing Vines, if it may properly 
be lb called, there is nothing wherein thole people 
differ more, fome performing it immediately after the 
Grapes are gathered, as in Carignano and Vald 5 Ar- 
no ; others do it at all times, as their conveniency 
permits, and if the feafon is mild and open (leaving 
their youngeft Vines till the laft,) from November to 
March ; and in Chianti, as the region is colder, and 
their Vines late to move, they do it late in the month 
of March, and even to the beginning of April ; others 
again do it at twice, in November, when they leave 
an eye extraordinary, and in March they cut off that 
extraordinary eye, which laft method feems to be the 
belt ; though, to have cuttings for a new planta- 
tion, it can only properly be done in February or 
March. 
As to fowing in their vineyards, they alfo differ as 
much. In Chianti they leave a fpace of about three 
feet from their Vines, from thence to the low wall, 
many fow Wheat $ and though the foil feems to be 
little elfe but ftones, and fuch as only can be worked 
by a mattock, yet it bears prodigious crops, thirteen 
or twenty for one. Others again, in that fpace, will 
only fow the low forts of Kidney-beans, Lentils, and 
fuch low plants, and others again will not fow any, 
the leaft thing at all, as in the general they do not in 
the vineyards on the hills, but in the plains, after the 
heads of their Vines are rifen fo high, as to be higher 
than the tops of Beans, they make no difficulty be- 
tween every row of Vines, to fow a row of them, as 
the moft (crapulous do not, to fow late in April a 
row of low Kidney- beans ; whilft fome of late, lay- 
ing two rows of Vines into one, whereof with ftrong 
(lakes and canes they make a fort of efpaliers, and in 
the middle, (that is between row and row,) being 
near four feet from each, plant a row of Artichokes, 
which they fay, being well dug in their proper feafons, 
part of the nouriftiment going to the Vines, does them 
more good than harm. 
As for the feafon of digging their vineyards, they all 
agree that the later it is done in the year, the better 
it" is; wherefore, in the places where they fow no- 
thing, they let that work alone till the latter end of 
April, or beginning of May, when according to the 
nature of the ground, they do it with a fpade or mat- 
tock. And again, the more efpeciaily to kill the 
weeds, and forward the ripening of the plants, they 
ftir it with a ftrong hoe or mattock, and when they 
can, with a ipade in the dog days *, but in fo doing 
they take a moft particular care that they touch not 
any of the roots of the Vines, for that, if it dd not 
kill them, would at leaft make them wither, and 
jpoil their fruit. 
2 
6. As for manuring their vineyards in all parts, when 
they are in a bearing condition, they practile it but 
once in five or fix years, when they open the earth 
about the roots, and taking away the ftnall ones, 
which they may have made towards the fuperficies, 
they throw in a handful or two of Cheeps dung, or of 
that of goats or deer, for if any of thefe are not eafily 
or in fufficient quantity to be had, then of parboiled 
Lupines, which, although agreeable to the Vine, 
yet being of little fubftance, muft be the oftener re- 
peated, every three years at leaft, when they cover it 
again ; and this they perform in the months of Odober 
and November, that the winter rains falling thereon, 
may make it delcend to the utmoft fibres of the roots, 
and afford them nourifhment. 
7. The feafon for gathering the Grapes, and making 
the vintage, is very uncertain, depending upon the 
weather that has been the preceding fpring and ftun- 
mer, which makes it fooner or later fifteen or twenty 
days in Chianti. When the feafon has been good, 
they begin to cut their Grapes about Michaelmas, 
and in the plains a week or ten days fooner. In 
this they every where govern themfelves according 
to the ripenefs of their Grapes, and the profped of 
the weather, aiming to have a perfed dry feafon to 
do it in. 
8. The Grapes being of a due ripenefs, and the 
weather warm and dry, as foon as the fun or wind 
has dried up the dew that was on them, they cut them 
and put them into piggins, and carry them, if at a 
diftance, on mules, or if near, between two men, to 
the wine vat, and then, either bruifing them to maffi 
in the faid piggins with a club, throw them diredly 
therein, or elfe into a thing relembling a very large 
hopper, with a grate length wife; then boards being 
placed over the vat, a lad with his feet treads them 
out, the juice, hufks, ftones, and ftalks all palling 
through the grate into the vat, and fo they continue 
to do till the vat (which ufually contains from four to 
five tons, fometimes eight, ten, nay, as far as fifteen 
or twenty in fome large vineyards, in which there are 
fometimes feveral of them) is full, when immediate- 
ly, or fometimes in a few hours before they fill it, it 
will fet a boiling, which raifes the hulks, ftalks, and 
ftones to the top, and thefe make a thick cruft, and 
thus it continues boiling for many days, more or lefs, 
according to the ftrength of it, till it be fit to be drawn 
off, which is to be diftinguiihed by the palate, where- 
in the greateft Ikill in making wine confifts. The low 
wines of the plains are ready in about ten days, thofe 
of the hills in about fifteen, cf the mountains of Chi- 
anti eighteen or twenty, and fometimes more ; in the 
haftening or retarding whereof the weather has fome 
(hare, fo that when they are near ready, they tafte 
them every eight hours. 
N. B. The more the wines boil, the drier they will be , 
the colour deeper , and the lefs, the fweeter and paler ; 
and what is faid above , is to be underfood of red wines , 
which are the chief produce of this country , whilfi to 
make their ftrong white wines or mufeadines, they gather 
their Grapes carefully , and lay them three or four days or 
more in the fun , taking care to carry them within doors , 
or under f sellers, in the night time, that fo no dew may 
fall on them. 
And when they are put into the vat, they let them boil 
but little , five or fix days at moft , and then put them into 
the cafe, f if ting them from one cafe to another , twice or 
thrice to make them become fine ; and for the Verde a or 
White Florence , as it is called, they draw it off from the 
vat almoft as foon as it begins to boil, and has raifed the 
cruft , and then letting it boil in the cafe into which they 
have drawn it, thirty fix hours , or at moft two days , they 
f if tit into another, and in a fezv hours into a third and 
fourth, to prevent and check the fermentation, which gives 
it the fweetnefs it has ; but then it is never perfectly fine, 
though fome people both in Italy and England , efpeciaily 
among the women, are very fond of it. 
N. B. Thofe Grapes at the end of the bunches are weaker 
in quality , as well as lefs ripe , than thofe that grow 
nigher to the ftalk, and therefore fome extreme curious 
perfons , 
