1 Jan., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 45 
What Englishmen have done in France, Englishmen can do in Australia... 
We have in this Commonwealth lands unsurpassed for the growth of the vine 
and the production of perfect wine. We have in many districts all that is 
required in the matter of climate and rainfall. If for many years our Queens- 
land vignerons did not succeed in producing so perfect a wine as their brethren 
in South Australia and Victoria, it was solely due to want of sufficient know- 
ledge of the soil and climate, added to the fact that few had any scientific 
knowledge of winemaking. 
These disabilities have, however, passed away. The Department of Agri- 
culture has spared no pains—by the introduction of new varieties of the best 
kinds of wine grapes, by the appointment of a scientist in grape culture and 
wine manufacture, and by the establishment of vineyards at the State Farms— 
to instruct the vignerons in the best and latest methods of cultivating their 
vines and of manufacturing wines which, given age, will hold their own with 
those of their southern rivals. 
It need scarcely be said that the Queensland winemakers are alive to the 
fact that the door has been opened for the introduction of southern wines into - 
this State ; and this will prove an additional incentive to them to put forth all 
their energies, and to avail themselves of all the resources science places at their 
disposal to produce wines which will rival those of the south. 
FILLING UP VACANCIES IN VINEYARDS. 
At the Thirteenth Annual Congress of the Agricultural Bureau of South 
Australia, held in Adelaide on September 10th to 13th, Mr. Thomas Hardy, 
member of Central Bureau, read the following paper :— 
This is a subject which may appear of small importance to many persons, 
vinegrowers included, but J shall be able to show that it is bad management to 
allow blank spaces in a vineyard. Fe 
In the first place, the land has to be all cultivated, whether it is filled or 
not. The second is the untidy and incomplete appearance of a vineyard with 
many blanks in it. Many persons think that more grapes are got from the 
yines adjoining the blank spaces, but_a close observation will show that very 
little more crop is got from them, so that we may safely say that the produc- 
tiveness of three-fourths of the vacant ground is lost. 
Now, having shown that blank spaces in a vineyard are an eyesore and a 
loss to the owner, I will proceed to show how they may be prevented, and, when 
they do occur, the best means of filling them. It is well known to all who have 
raised vineyards that it is of no use to try and fill up the vacant spaces with 
cuttings or rooted plants after the third or fourth year from planting; even if 
such plants keep alive (which they seldom do), they never make any growth to: 
speak of, and it is money and time thrown away to attempt to do it. There- 
fore it is most necessary to see that the vineyard is kept well filled up during 
the first and second years after planting. Where vacancies do occur from want 
of this being done, or from other causes, such as the dying out of older vines, 
the only way to succeed in filling up is by layers from the nearest vines. This 
was an easy way when vines were planted from 4 feet to 5 feet apart, because rods. 
could often be found long-enough to lay down, or the vines sometimes were 
wholly buried, and shoots brought up where the vine stood, and also in the place 
where anew plant was required. To such an extent was this done by the 
Swiss vinegrowers in the Geelong district, that I have known of as many as. 
twenty-five vines that were found all joined together underground when the 
vines were uprooted in one of the vineyards there some years ago. The 
