V I T 
e&fterly dry wind) being able to pals, mod effectually 
does the bufinels •, and as they in that region come 
almoft every year, the trouble of fo providing againft 
them is become habitual to the cultivators, 
'The manner of making wine in Champaign , and how. it 
may he propagated in ether provinces , to bring it to 
perfection. 
Wine is fo delicate a liquor* and an aliment fo proper 
to give ftrength, and to preferve health, if ufed with 
moderation, that one may very well wonder, that in 
moft of the provinces of France, they make it with fo 
much negligence in all thofe places, where it might 
be excellent. 
The Champenois are exempted from this reproach, 
and whether it be from a delicacy of tafte, or a defire 
of making an advantage of their wines, or a facility 
in rendering them better, they have been always more 
induftrious to make them more exquifite, than thofe 
of the other provinces of the kingdom. 
It is true, it is fcarce eighty years fince they have ftu- 
died to make pale wine, which is very near white, 
but before, their red wine was made with more care 
and neatnefs, than any other of the wines of the 
kingdom. 
1 (hall not enter upon the ancient or modern difpute, 
as to the preference between the wines of Champaign 
and Burgundy, but content myfelf with taking no- 
tice of all that the people of Champaign have invent- 
ed to give the finenels and agreeablenefs to their wines ; 
and by the obfervation that may be made therefrom, 
it will be eafy to fee that the fame may be imitated in 
other provinces, fo as to come pretty near that light- 
nefs and exquifitenefs. 
If thefe effays fhall give hopes of fuccefs for the future, 
the wines of thole provinces might be brought to per- 
fedtion by degrees where they might be delicious, and 
where they are but pcior, becaufe they have never 
ftudied to give them that finenefs. 
In order to have the wine excellent, the Vines ought 
to be well expofed to the fun, efpecially to the fouth, 
and alfo on the decline, or in the manner of a little 
hill, rather than on the plain. Vines Ihould be well 
chofen, and fhould be fuch as generally produce 
none but fmall black Grapes : the bottom of the foil 
fhould be good, a little ftony, and not naturally 
moift. The grain of the foil of Champaign is very 
fine, and has a lingular quality that is not found in 
other provinces. 
As thefe kinds of lands are light, there is occafion to 
dung them from time to time, and to lay on new 
earth ; but the dunging ought to be fparingly done, 
for too much of it will render the wine foft and infi- 
pid, and apt to be ropy ; it ought to be commonly 
cow dung, becaufe that is not fo hot as horfe dung. 
In ftrong lands it may be mingled with horfe dung 
and fheeps dung, provided that the horfe dung be fo 
rotten, that it may be reduced to a powder, and that 
there be but one half as much as of the cow dung, 
otherwise it will burn the Vines. Let it be laid on a 
trench or pit, and mix one layer of dung and another 
of new earth, and let it lie and rot during a whole 
winter, and toward the month of February take from 
thence half a bafket of every Vine, efpecially for each 
new plant, to help them to pufh forth. It is fuffici- 
ent for a vineyard to be dunged once in eight or ten 
years, or an eighth or a tenth part every year. 
After the dung has been carried, the Vines ought to 
be opened round about, and a little trench to be made 
round the foot of the Vine, in order to bury the dung 
at a proper time. 
Divers perfons leave it there many weeks before 
they bury it, but this is not the belt way, for the air, 
the cold, or the fun, will be apt toAiffipate the moft 
fubtile fubftance of it; but when it is neither too cold 
nor too hot, it may be left open eight or ten days to 
exhale its ill favour, efpecially the dung of fheep. 
They give to a Vine four ordinary dreffings, accord- 
ing to "their feafons ; but it is proper to take notice of 
V I T 
one thing, which is fcarcely obferved in Champaign* 
which is, that they cut their Vines in the month” of 
February, and even in January, inftead of which they 
ought never to begin to cut them till after the 14th 
of February: when they are cut before, they pufh 
forth fooner, and are expofed to injury, and are fome- 
times killed, if any hoar frofts come, prefently after 
they have been cut ; But when they ftay till after the 
14th of the month of February, there is no danger of 
their being injured by the frofts. 
The covetoufneis of vignerons leave them to under- 
take the cultivation of more Vines than they well can 
manage, and for this reafon they cut their Vines in 
January* which does an infinite injury to them, and 
to the greateft part of the plants, which they are len- 
fible of for many years. 
In Champaign they cultivate two forts of Vines, which 
they call the high Vines and the low Vines. The 
high Vines are fuch as they leave to grow in thofe 
places that are lefs fine, to the height of four or five 
feet ; the low Vines are thofe, which they do not fuffer 
to grow above three feet high ; thefe they inter, 
or ravale, according to the country term, every year, 
fo as to leave but a little of the end to appear, which 
is repeated annually. 
The high Vines produce plentifully, arid give often 
feven or eight pieces of wine an arpent ; the low Vines 
produce but little, but then the Vine is much more 
delicate •, they often do not give above two pieces of 
wine an arpent, oftentimes lefs, feldom three, but 
much feldomer four. 
In order that the wine may be the finer, all the wines 
which give the white Grapes muft be taken away, and 
thofe alfo that give the large black Grapes, but one 
need not pluck thefe up, but graft them. 
But fometimes thefe grafts will not fucceed, which 
being obferved, they muft be plucked up, and new 
ones that have a root fet in their room, which they 
chufe out of the nurferies, that are common in the 
country. They ordinarily purchafe thefe plants for a 
piftole a thoufand. 
A private man that has a great many Vines, may make 
himfelf nurferies. 
Thefe plants that have a root are put into the earth, 
in the middle of a great hole about a foot deep, which 
they make with a ftake, or ftrait mattock, or pickax, 
and thefe produce fooner than the others, which have 
no root. A plant that has a root begins to give wine 
a little the third year, indifferently the fourth and fifth, 
and in abundance in the following years, and fo for 
above fixty years. 
Thefe new plants ought to be dunged the fecond year, 
and in the fixth year, and afterwards in the eighth and 
tenth as other Vines. 
It will be to the purpofe every year, to pull up part 
of the old plants, which take up room and produce 
little or nothing, and by this means a vineyard will be 
conftantly renewed, as one may fay, and in a perfedt 
good condition. 
When there are dews or humidities in May, June, 
and September, the vignerons muft not be fuffered 
to enter the vineyards in a morning, for the dews of 
thefe months are commonly very cold, if the fun do 
not draw them up, which burns the leaves of the Vines 
which are touched before they are drawn up. 
It is very effential not to enter the vineyards at the 
time when there is hoar froft, or Ihowers attended 
with froft, for this will certainly kill the Vines. 
The vineyards muft be weeded now and then, and if 
there be any beetles, which are pernicious animals to 
plants, they muft be picked off and put into fecks, 
and burnt at fome diftance from the vineyard, and the 
allies buried. 
About the end of June, and alfo of the month of 
May, according as the vineyard is advanced, it is ne- 
ceffary to cut off the end of each twig, that the plant 
may grow no more in height, and that it may convey 
all its nourilhment to the Grapes. It is enough, if it 
have two feet and a half, or three at moft, above 
oround ; all the reft is to be cut off, as muft alfo the 
tops 
