and the Method of Making Wines. 137 
vine : the want of water, mould, and manure, oppose the 
idea of every other cultivation. 
But there are some kinds of soil still more favourable to 
the vine, those which are at the same time light and peb- 
bly : the root easily forces itself through a soil, which, 
by a mixture of light earth and pebbles, is rendered ex- 
ceedingly permeable. The stratum of galets which co- 
vers the surface of the earth defends it from the drying 
ardour of the sun ; ' and while the stem and the grapes 
receive the benign influence of that luminary, the root, 
properly moistened, furnishes the juice necessary for the 
labour of vegetation. Soil of this kind is called in dif- 
ferent countries, stony soil,- sandy soil, &c. 
Volcanic earth also produces delicious wines. I have 
had occasion to observe in different parts of the south of 
France that the most vigorous vines and the most capital 
wines were produced among the remains of volcanoes,. 
These virgin earths, prepared for a long time in the bo- 
som of the earth by subterranean fires, exhibit an inti- 
mate mixture of all the earthy principles ; their semi- 
vitrified texture, decomposed by the combined action of 
the air and water, furnishes all the elements of good ve- 
getation, and the fire with which these earths have been 
impregnated, seems to pass in succession into all the 
plants intrusted to them. The wines of Tokay and the 
best wines of Italy are the production of volcanic soil ; 
the last bishop of Agde dug up, and planted with vines 
the old volcano of the mountain, at the bottom of which 
that ancient town is situated, and these plantations form 
at present one of the richest vineyards in that canton. 
There are points on the variegated surface of our 
globe where the granite no longer presents that hardness 
and unalterability which in general form the character of 
that primitive rock : in these places it is pulverulent, and 
presents to the- eye nothing but dry sand of greater or 
VOL. I, S 
