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tops or ends of the young {hoots, > which proceed 
from the bottom or fides of the ftocks. This ought 
to be done twice, thrice, or four times in a lum trier, 
according as the Vines put fortlfi more cr left in cer- 
tain yearSi 
In the fpring feafon they put a prop to every Vine to 
fupport it ; they ought to be chofen, as much as may 
be, of Oak, and to procure them of the quarter or 
heart thereof, if you are willing to go to the charge 
of it. Thefe will laid above twenty years, and when 
they are once made {harp, they will always keep fo, 
for when they begin to rot, they periffi equally 
throughout, and remain always pointed. The other 
laid fcarce four or five years, and the maffers muid 
have an eye over the fervants when they ffiarpen them 
yearly, that they do not cut them too much, and 
make them too fhort, and that they do not break a 
great many that might ferve; for oftentimes in cutting 
off that which is rotted, they cut off two or three 
inches of that which is found, which prejudices it as 
to duration. They call thefe props foot-props. 
When a vineyard has been cultivated and managed 
during the fummer after the accuftomed manner, and 
the vintage time approaches, when they have made 
choice of, and prepared a new cafk that will contain 
it, and when the prefs has been walked, cleaned, and 
rubbed over, you muff be very watchful to find when 
the Grapes are come to maturity, for if they are too 
ripe, the wine will not be fufficiently Idrong ; if they 
are too green, it will be hard, more difficult, and 
longer before it is fit to be drank. 
In the provinces of Languedoc and Provence, the 
Grapes have too large Hones, they have too many 
white ones ; they fuffer them to be too ripe, which 
gives them over much liquor ; they let their Hocks 
grow to be too old, and do not renew them often 
enough *, they are planted for the moil part upon too 
good bottoms, or too moiH, and have not an afped 
of the fun good enough. 
To make an excellent wine of the firH preffing, hav- 
ing firH well examined the maturity of the Grapes, 
you ought to endeavour not to gather them but on 
days that are very dewy, and in hot years, after a lit- 
tle rain, when you can be fo happy as to have it. As 
the Grapes are not ripe till toward the end of Septem- 
ber, and fometimes the beginning of Odober, dew is 
rarely wanted in vintage time. This dew gives the 
Grapes a flower or farina on the outfide, which they 
call azur, and inwardly a freffinefs, which caufes that 
it doth not heat very eafily, and that the wine is not 
coloured. 
It is very lucky, if there chances to be a mifiy day in 
dry years, which now and then happens, for the 
, wine is not only thence more white and delicate, but 
the quantity is by much the greater, being augment- 
ed by near one fourth part. A private perfon who 
has but twelve pieces of wine, in gathering his vin- 
tage in a morning which has the fun without dew, will 
have fixteen or ieventeen, if the morning be mifiy, 
and fourteen or fifteen if it has no mifi, but yet has 
a good dew ; the reafon of this is, that the dew, and 
above all, the mifi renders the Grapes tender, fo that 
the whole in a manner turns into wine. 
The wine produced from the Grapes that have not 
been warmed the moment they are cut, will Hill re- 
main much paler, whereas, when the fun has warm- 
ed the fubfiance of the Grape, it will become more 
red by the motion of the parts, but the quantity will 
be leffened either by reafon of tranfpiration, or be- 
caufe the rind has been thickened and hardened by 
the fun, whereby it yields its juice with more difficulty. 
This, which experience has taught, is of fo much 
the more concern, by how much the more certain it is. 
They agree in Champaign, that the wine which they 
call river wine, is ordinarily paler than that of the 
mountains, but they do not give the reafon for it. I 
believe the vineyards that are near a river enjoy all the 
night a freffi air, which the river exhales, whereas 
the vineyards of mountains do not refpire, during the 
night, that warmth which proceeds from the exhala- 
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dons of the earth, alrid it is that which makes the co^ 
lour more or lefs j alfo when the years are very hot# 
they cannot, either to thofe of the rivers, or of the 
mountains, warrant the colour ; and when the years 
are cold, neither the wines of the mountains nor thofe 
of the rivers are coloured ; the reafon is the fame, be- 
caufe the wines of the rivers are more foft, forward, 
and fooner fit for drinking, than the others that are 
harder, more heady, and later fit. 
They gather riot all the Grapes without difiincKon, 
neither at all hours in the day, but they chuje the 
ripefi and bluefi ; thofe are the beff, and make the 
mofi exquifite wirie, whofe berries grow not too clofe 
together, but are a little feparated, whereby they 
ripen perfectly well, for thofe that are clofe joined 
together never ripen thoroughly ; they cut them with 
a ffnall crooked knife, with as much neatnefs and 
as little of the tail as they can, and they lay- them 
very gently on the bafkets, fo as not to bruife one 
Grape. 
With thirty Grape-gatherers they will run over a vine- 
yard of thirty arpents in three or four hours, to make 
one firH preffing of ten or twelve pieces. 
In wet years gteat care ffiould be taken riot to put 
any Grapes that is fpoiled into the balkets, and at all 
times you mufi be very careful to cut away the rotten 
Grapes, or thofe that are bruifed, or quite dried up, 
but you mufi never pull them off the bunches. 
They begin the gathering of Grapes half an hour af- 
ter fun-rifing, and if the fun is not clouded, and is a 
little hot about nine or ten o’clock, they leave off ga-' 
thering, and make their fack, which is one of the firH 
preffing, becaufe after this hour the Grape being warm, 
the wine will be of a red colour or teint, and will be 
a long while very heady. 
Upon thefe occafions they get a great number of ga- 
therers, to be able to make up a fack for preffing in 
two or three hours ; if it be overcafi, they may gather 
the whole day, becaufe the Grape will prefer ve its 
freffinefs upon the Hock. 
The gatherers and preffers ought to take great care 
that the Grapes be neither foul nor heated when they 
are preffed, and alfo that the Grapes have their flow*' 
er under the prefs. 
When the prefs is near the vineyard, it is eafy to pre- 
vent the wine from having a colour, becaufe the 
Grapes may be carried gently and neatly in a little 
time ; but when they are two or three leagues off, 
they being obliged to fend the Grapes in calks and in 
carts, to prefs it as foon as may be, it is hardly to be 
avoided but that the wine Will be coloured, except in 
fome very moiff and cold years. 
This is a certain principle, that when the Grapes are 
cut, the. fooner they are preffed the more pale and 
delicate is the wine j for by how much the more wine 
Hands upon the marc, the redder it is, fo that it is of 
great importance to hafien the gathering of the Grapes 
and preffing of them. 
The preffes of Champaign are very commodious. 
The particular perfons that have many vineyards of 
their own, have them in or near the fame vineyards ; 
in Hnall places the preffes are bannaux, which are of 
different fizes and faffiions. An exa& defcription of 
thefe feveral preffes will be inferted in the article of 
Wines. 
The fmall ones are about feven. feet and a quarter, 
the middle ones about ten or twelve, the laro-e ones 
fifteen or eighteen ; the leaff, which they call eti- 
quets, cofi feven or eight hundred livresj the fecond* 
which they call a cage or a teiffons, about two thou- 
fand franks ; the large ones a thoufand crowns, and 
fometimes more, according as the wood is cheaper or 
dearer in certain places. In Languedoc and Pro- 
vence, where the wood is fcarce, thefe forts of preffes 
cofi a very great price, and but few perfons are in cir- 
cumffances to be at the charge of them. 
When the Grapes have been put under the prefs, or 
on the marc, they put three great rods or poles of 
ten or twelve inches round upon them, one at either 
end in length, and the third in the middle on the 
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