plants in' thofe whofe trenches and paths are wide, 
and the plants Ids crouded, and for this reafon there 
would be but few vignerons but would be of this 
opinion. 
When I lay, that when one plants Auvernats, they 
fhould have five feet in breadth for the trench, and 
as much for the path, and two feet fix inches dif- 
tance between each plant, I fpeak of thofe Vines 
planted in a very good bottom of earth, becaufe they 
will laft many ages without being renewed after the 
ufbal manner. 
Tor as to thole lands where one is obliged to, renew 
the vineyard in about twenty or five and twenty years, 
it will be fufficient to allow four feet and a half for 
the breadth of the trench, and the fame for the path, 
and twenty inches for the diftance between each plant, 
becaufe thefe Vines will not laft a very long time, by 
reafon the roots will grow large, and fpread far in 
the earth, in fuch a rqanner, that they would injure 
one another, 1 fuppofe, rieverthelefs, this land to 
be paffably good, for otherwise the breadth of the 
trench and the path muft be greater, and the diftance 
between each plant, or the vineyard, muft be the 
oftener dunged. 
There are two forts of plants, thofe from cuttings, 
and from layers. 
The cutting is a young {hoot of the fame year that 
has no roots •, they always leave at bottom a knot of 
the wood of the preceding year. Thefe are the moll 
commonly ufed. They give it no other management 
than to cut off the clafpers and the tops, at the fame 
time that they take them off from the Vines, and lay 
them down in the earth in a bundle, when they cut 
them before winter, and cannot plant them till the 
fpring. 
This plant is good, and commonly fucceeds when it 
has been well chofen, being planted in lands well dil- 
poled and. well cultivated ; but yet there is an incon- 
veniency in ufing it, and that when it is to be planted 
in lands that are naturally moift, or that retain the 
water. If it be planted early, and there fall cold rains 
in great abundance, the plant foaks in the water, and 
the fkin or rind comes off, and it perifhes inftead of 
taking root •, and if it be planted too late, and the 
great heats and droughts overtake it before it has 
put forth buds that are paffably ftrong, it is fcorched, 
wherefore it is better to make ufe of the fecond fpe- 
cies of plants, not only in thefe forts of lands, but 
all others. 
The layers are the long {hoots of Vines of three years 
growth, which have been layed down in the ground, 
and have put out fmall roots ; thefe are better, and 
lefs liable to fail; they may be planted at all times in 
winter and in any kinds of lands, provided they are 
fuch as do not retain the water. In this cafe it were 
better to wait till March to plant them, or at leaft till 
the ground appears healthful, for we fnould never 
plant in ground which is very wet. 
Before the layers are planted, they ought to be 
pruned, that is, to cut off a few of their roots ; and 
when they are weak at the place where they were bent, 
thefe muft not only be cut, but alfo the other branches 
or fpurs, leaving that which has the moftand ftrong- 
eft roots. 
The layers are a great deal lefs fubjedt to foak in the 
water than the cuttings, becaufe having roots before 
they were planted, they make new ones fooner than 
thofe which have none. 
It is true, thefe layers are more rare than the other, 
but it is an eafy matter to render them common 
enough, becaufe one may have whole acres of them, 
and all the precaution that is neceffary for it, confifts 
in making layers, when they are well grown, from 
the (hoots. 
Thefe may be planted in two different places, either 
in feme piece of land defigned lolely for this purpofe, 
or in the middle of each ridge, at the time that a vine- 
yard is planted. 
If they be planted in a particular piece of ground, 
they muft be laid in rows betwixt the Vines, and 
there fo, that betwixt each row and the (hoot there 
may be a fufficient diftance, that the (hoots may not 
hurt one another, and that the vigneron may have 
room to pais between them when he is trimmincr 
them •, for he muft hoe them three times a year to hin- 
der the weeds from growing about them, and choak- 
ing them, and depriving them of a part of their 
nouriffiment. 
This portion of ground is, a fort of nurfery, fmee the 
gardeners make them, that they may have plants to 
plant in thofe places where they are wanting. • 
I am alfo of the opinion, that it is the prudence of a 
citizen to have on his eftate (efpecially fince the cut- 
tings do not take root but with difficulty) a place 
where he may always have layers in as large a quan- 
tity as he pleafes, or (hall iuffice for all thofe that 
lh all not fucceed, at leaft if they be not well chofen, 
and which require a particular care in their cultivation. 
I (hall confider, at the end of the following article, 
after what manner we fhould plant the layers in the 
ridges. 
It is for the intereft of a citizen to order his affairs fo, 
that his vineyard may be always full of plants, to the 
end that it may produce a good quantity of wine ; 
becaufe it often happens, notwithstanding all the pre- 
caution that can be taken to keep a vineyard well fur- 
nifhed, that it will want to be fupplied, by reafon of 
the quantity of plants that die from time to time, be- 
caufe one cannot always fupply their places by the 
means of layers ; and likewife fometimes there will not 
be wood enough upon the Vines that are near for that 
purpofe, and that it would not be proper to make ufe 
of the top of the fnoot, for feveral reafohs that might 
be given, and therefore it will be proper to place 
plants between the others. 
Some vignerons will fay, that it is very rare that thefe 
middle plants fucceed in a vineyard where they are 
planted; to which it may be anfwered, that it is true, 
that a middle plant may not fucceed, when the earth 
has not been well prepared before the planting, or 
when it has no other management but that of the 
vineyard in common ; but it is very certain that it 
will fcarce fail, if care be taken, after the vintage, to 
pluck up the dead {hoots, to open the earth to a good 
depth before winter, not only to the end that it may 
mellow, but alfo that the Vines may not be damaged 
in cutting off part of its roots, by which it would 
be greatly weakened, if it were not done before the 
fpring; and if in every hole were put a balket of frefh 
earth, or about the twentieth part of a fcuttle full of 
well rotted dung, efpecially when the plant is fet in 
ftony, clayey, or gravelly ground. 
I have feen among Vines very ftrong in wood, and of 
a hundred years of age, a middle plant very ftrong 
to the third eye, and which always continued to do 
well ; and I can affirm, that thefe Vines are planted in 
as ftrong lands as any a*-e in our plot of vineyards. 
, Now if the middle plant does well there, as it is cer- 
tain it does, we may take it for granted that it will 
ftill do better in thofe lands which are light ; and hence 
it is, that there is not any land where one may not 
plant, or where it will not fucceed. 
Perhaps the vignerons may fay that a middle plant 
will be worth nothing among young Vines, becaufe 
thefe puffi with fo much force, that their {hoots would 
choke it. 
I agree that it may fometimes fo happen, but then 
this is a proof that the year following there will be 
found in the vineyard wood enough to make layers 
there. Therefore it would be ufelefs to fet a mid- 
dle plant, becaufe it is more likely to fail, and like- 
wife it will not produce fruit fo foon as the layers, 
which produce it the fame year in which they are 
made. 
This reafoning is more juft than the confequence that 
they would draw from thence ; that is to fay, that it 
would be ufelefs to plant a middle plant ; for if a vig- 
neron fhould every year cut off the wood of the vine- 
yard, which might ferve for the making the layer, and 
not fet a middle plant there, the vacancy that would 
be 
4 
