330 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 24, 1884. 
surprising that the variety in question does so well in Cornwall.— 
William Roberts, Peckham. 
VINE-GROWING AT CASTLE COCII. 
At a recent meeting of the Cardiff Naturalists’ Society, Mr. A. Pettigrew 
of the Cardiff Castle Gardens read a long paper upon some experiments in 
Tine culture out of doors which he had been for some time engaged in at 
Castle Coch. After referring to the histo v of the Vine as an outdoor fruit 
in this and other countries Mr. Pettigrew described his experience as 
follows :— 
SITE OF THE VINEYARD. 
It is now eleven years since my noble employer, the Marquis of Bute, 
told me he purposed planting a vineyard somewhere in the neighbourhood of 
Cardiff, on the French system, and named Castle Coch as being a most likely 
situation for trying the experiment. I was in Scotland at the time, and his 
lordship delayed definitely deciding till I had seen the proposed site and 
given my opinion of it, and of the suitability of the soil for growing Vines. 
I had at that time had no experience of the climate of South Wales, but I 
was pleased with the soil and the situation, and reported so to his lordship. 
The ground selected lies to the left of the Castle at a somewhat lower level, 
with a gentle slope to the south, and from the nature of the ground it re¬ 
quires no artificial drainage. It is protected from the north by a large 
plantation, which covers the breast and summit of the hill behind. It 
is also protected from the east and west by smaller hills at some little 
•distance off, and lies quite open to the south, overlooking the Bristol 
Channel, which is four or five miles distant. The soil, which is 2 feet 
deep, is a light fibry loam resting on a broken limestone rock—just the 
hind of soil that Vines like to grow in. The plan proposed at first was to 
get an intelligent young man from some of the well-known vineyards in 
France to assist me in selecting the varieties and in planting the Vines, and 
perhaps to remain to dress the vineyard and make the wine. After some 
■correspondence we learned that it would be extremely difficult to induce a 
person of the class wanted to leave his home and friends to come here on 
■any consideration. I was accordingly instructed to go to France myself and 
visit the principal vineyards in the Medoc and elsewhere, and gain all the 
information I could. It was a rather preplexing duty to one totally un¬ 
acquainted with the French language ; but furnished with letters of introduc¬ 
tion to wine merchants and the principal vineyard proprietors in Franc 5 and 
others, I set out in the latter end of September in time to see the vintage of 
the year. After presenting my letters of introduction in Paris the principal 
of a large firm there kindly sent one of their men, who could speak a little 
English, with me for two days to show me the vineyards around Paris and 
other objects of interest. In visiting the vineyards my guide was at great 
pains to explain everything the vineyard proprietors told him respecting the 
different modes of culture. My practical experience of the Vine in this 
country enabled me readily to grasp the facts my teacher meant to convey. 
The general treatment of the Vine a3 practised in the small vineyards in the 
neighbourhood of Paris is somewhat different from the treatment they 
receive in the south of France, and quite different from the mode of Vine¬ 
growing followed in this country. Many of the small Vine proprietors can¬ 
not afford to keep a wine press for themselves ; but every village in the 
wine district has a public press, the use of which can be had on payment of 
a small fee. Here the juice is extracted from the Grapes, run into barrels, 
•and taken away and fermented at home. The small proprietors, as a rule, 
are an industrious hardworking class, who make the most of every inch of 
ground. The vineyards are neatly kept, and when young Vines are planted 
the spaces between them are filled with some other crop till the Vines are 
old enough to occupy all the ground. 
THE CHAMPAGNE VINEYARDS. 
After learning all I could in the vicinity of Paris I went to Chalons-su"- 
Marne, in the champagne country, with a letter of introduction to a gentleman 
of the name of Jacqueson, who was the proprietor of one of the largest 
champagne manufactories in France. Unfortunately, I learned on my arrival 
that he had gone to Paris, but his manager kindly showed me through their 
•enormous cellars, which are cut in the chalk hills. Lines of rails are laid 
through the principal passages, and railway trucks are taken in and loaded 
and despatched to all parts direct from them. Openings are cut from the 
surface in several places in the cellars, and strong reflectors placed under 
them to give light. My guide informed me that they had a stock of five 
million bottles of champagne on hand. The treatment of the Vinrs here 
was much the same as that practised in the vineyards near Paris. M. Jac¬ 
queson, besides having a vineyard of his own, is a large buyer of Grapes 
from the Vine-growers in the district to make into champagne. The gentle¬ 
man in Paris from whom I had the letter of introduction told me that M. 
Jacqueson’s father was a Scotchman, and a great enthusiast in the culture 
of the Vine. He said that at one time he went to great expense in making 
straw mats to protect the Vines from the cold winds and chilling frosts in 
the early part of the season, with the idea of improving the crop and making 
■a better class of wine* but the expense was so great that the scheme had to 
be abandoned. 
BORDEAUX VINEYARDS. 
I next visited Bordeaux, and delivered a letter I had to a large firm there, 
the head of which showed me great kindness. He placed one of his clerks at 
my disposal—a young Scotchman, who could speak French like a native—to 
introduce me to the managers of some vineyards in the Medoc, and to act as 
interpreter. We visited several vineyards, and I was fortunate in arriving 
in time to see the vintage of three of the principal chateaux in full operation. 
These were Chateaux Latour, Lafitte, and Margaux. Chateau Latour con¬ 
tains 103 acres, Lafitte 105 acres, and Margaux 197 acres. The conformat'on 
of the country here i3 that of a vast plain, with a gentle incline towards the 
river Gironde. The soil has to all appearance been covered by the sea at 
some time. The surface is sprinkled with small water-worn stones and sand, 
but the soil varies in places. The manager of one of the vineyards said that 
the variation of the soil caused a variation in the wine, so that in some places 
the best and most inferior wines grew side by side. As the Vines are the 
same variety and the culture identical, the soil alone can explain the differ¬ 
ence. The vineyards are intersected byroads of just sufficient width to admit 
of a cart or wagon passing along conveniently without interfering with the 
Vines. These roads lead to the principal approach to the chateau where the 
Grapes are pressed. The Vines are planted in rows, about 3 feet apart each 
way, and the rows are as nearly at right angles to the roads as possible. 
When the vintage begins a cart with two half-hogsheads on it, drawn by two 
oxen, is taken to the section of Vines to be gathered. Women and children 
cut the bunches, and men carry the full baskets from the cutters and empty 
them into the half-hogsheads on the cart, and when they are full they are 
carted to the press-house, where they are converted into wine. The upper 
floor of the press-house at Chateau Lafitte is on a level with the top of the 
vats. The hogsheads are lifted from the yard below by machinery similar to 
that in use in granaries here, and the Grapes emptied on a boxed-in platform, 
containing a machine for separating the Grapes from the stalks. The berries 
pass through wire netting, and the stalks are thrown on one side. The plat¬ 
form runs on rails which encircle the whole set of vats. When the cart with 
the Grapes arrives the platform is run to the door, the hogsheads hooked on, 
raised, and emptied. The platform is then removed to the side of the vat 
which is being filled, and the Grapes passed through the machine and 
shovelled into the vat. The Grapes are not trodden with the feet here as I 
have seen done at- some places I visited. When the vat is full a cover is put 
on, and it is hermetically sealed. A siphon is then introduced through the 
centre of the cover into the vat, and the other end of it placed in a tub of 
water, which allows the gas to escape, while the water in the tub prevents 
the air from coming into contact with the wine. After fermentation, which 
generally takes from four to five days in good seasons, though a great deal 
depends on the temperature and the state of the weather, the wine is drawn 
off and transferred to enormous barrels in the storehouse. When the wine 
has been all run off the pulp is put in the press and the juice extracted. 
PLANTING THE VINES AT OAST LB COCH. 
The vineyard at Castle Coch was planted in the spring of 1875, on the 
French system, as practised in the neighbourhood of Paris, Burgundy, and in 
the champagne country. The ground in the vineyard had been thoroughly 
trenched and levelled the previous winter. The Vines are planted in rows 
from north to south, 3 feet apart, and the plants are 3 feet apart in the 
rows, and trained to stakes 4 feet high, and pruned close to the ground every 
year. A great many varieties of Vines are grown in the vineyards of France, 
but some of the best varieties grown in the south do not succeed when 
p’anted in colder districts. I was strongly recommended by the Vine-growers 
in the vicinity of Paris to try the varieties I planted at Castle Coch (Gammy 
Noir and Mille Blanch) as being two of the varieties most likely to suit our 
climate. They are extensively grown about Paris, in Burgundy, and in the 
colder wine-producing districts of France. The plants have a strong consti¬ 
tution, they produce fruit freely, and make very good wine. We had three 
or four good seasons in succession after they were planted. They grew well 
and made strong canes, which ripened thoroughly. Gardeners and others 
who came from a distance to see the vineyard were surprised at the luxuriance 
of the Vines growing in the open air, and simply trained to stakes in the 
way that Raspberry plants are trained in this country. The sight about the 
end of July is a novel and interesting one. Long rows of Vines as straight 
as a line, in a curved slope down the hill, and the tops of the canes all neatly 
stopped at the height of 4 feet from the ground, with their large dark-green 
glossy foliage almost meeting in the rows, was a sight not to be seen any¬ 
where else in this country. I was very well pleased with the progress the 
Vines made for the first three or four years. During these fine seasons the 
Vines on the Castle wall at Cardiff produced heavy crops of Grapes, which 
ripened well. Indeed, some of the bunches that were thinned were as good 
as the Grapes that are generally to be found at the tables d'hote in France. 
Taking all things into consideration, I felt sanguine at this time that the 
experiment at Castle Coch would be a success in good seasons. The Vines 
were growing vigorously, and there were no signs of the dreaded phylloxera, 
so common in many places in this country now. The only pest that attacked 
them was a kind of fungus called “ O'idium Tuckeri,” which was soon got rid 
of by picking the affected leaves off and burning them. 
PROGRESS OF THE VINES. 
We made the first wine from the vineyard in 1877. The crop w r as not a 
heavy one, but sufficient to enable us to make about 40 gallons of wine. The 
Grapes were brought down from the vineyard to the gardens in Cardiff, and 
the berries separated from the stalks and crushed in a machine made for the 
purpose, and a little water added to the “ must,” which lay for twenty-four 
hours in a wooden vat before being put into the wine press. Three pounds 
of the best cane lump sugar were added to every gallon of liquor, and then 
it was all put into a barrel to ferment. Strong fermentation lasted for about 
twenty da.ys, after which the bung was put in gently at first, and when fer¬ 
mentation had ceased altogether it was driven hard in. The wine was racked 
off several times during the following spring and summer, and it was finally 
bottled off after having lain for a little more than a year in the barrel. 
In 1878 the crop of Grapes was better, but still far from being a full crop. 
The Vines were, however, gaining strength, and I expected to get a full crop 
soon, if the season kept favourable. The Vines broke well in 1879, and 
showed an abundance of fruit in the latter end of May, but with the cold and 
sunless wet summer that followed the fruit all dropped off, and we did not 
gather a bunch of Grapes from the vineyard. This was not much to be 
wondered at in a season in which farmers could not get their corn to ripen. 
In passing I may say with respect to the cultivation of the Vine, that one 
bad season in which Grapes will not ripen means two bad seasons in succes¬ 
sion. If the Grapes will not ripen the wood will not ripen either, and it is 
upon well-ripened wood that a crop of Grapes, or any other kind of fruit 
mainly depends. The vineyard was a failure in 1880 on account of the wood 
not being ripened in the previous season. There was a very good crop in 
1881, but I have not been able to make wine since, owing to the bad 
seasons that have followed in succession. The Grapes on the Castle wall 
at Cardiff have failed to ripen their fruit during this period. They show 
plenty of fruit, but the bunches get eaten up with mildew long before they 
are ripe. 
To sum up briefly, the really experimental time for the vineyard at Castle 
Coch has been the worst we could have had for the last twenty or thirty 
years, and the results to be observed from the trial as yet cannot be pro- 
