185 
and the Method of making Wines . 
people of that district supply their neighbours of Tou- 
louse, Montauban, Castres, and other places, and of thus 
depriving them of the great profit thence arising, which 
forms the best part of their revenue.” 
There are some individuals, however, who, in order to 
have a more abundant crop, dung their vines ; but they 
thus sacrifice the quality to quantity. 
The dung most favourable to the vine is that of pi- 
geons or poultry ; dung too foetid or too putrid is careful- 
ly rejected, as it has been proved by observation that the 
wine often contracts from it a very disagreeable taste. 
In the isles of Hh6 and Oleron the vines are dunged 
with sea-weed ffucusj ; but the wine thence acquires a 
bad quality, and retains the peculiar odour of that plant. 
Chasseron has observed, that the same plant decomposed 
into mould manures the vine with advantage, and in- 
creases the quantity of the wine without hurting the qua- 
lity. Experience has also taught him that the ashes of 
sea-weed form excellent manure for the vine. This able 
agriculturist is of opinion that vegetable manure is not 
attended with the same inconveniences as animal ma- 
nure ; but he thinks, and with justice, that the former 
cannot be used with advantage except when employed 
in the state of mould. 
The method of cultivating vines on poles or props 
ought to be commanded by the climate. This method 
belongs to cold countries, where the vine has need of 
the whole heat of the sun, naturally weak. By raising 
them, therefore, on poles placed perpendicular to the 
ground, the earth, being uncovered, receives all the acti- 
vity of the rays, and the whole surface of the plant is 
completely exposed to their action. Another advantage 
of cultivating on props is, that it allows the vines to be 
placed nearer to each other, and that the produce is mul 
tiplied on equal surfaces. But in warmer climates the 
Vol. I. a a 
