| OCR Text |
Show — abfolutely neceffary to nourifh the Fruit by in their Vineyards. The beft Seafon for Prutaking them off, the Fruit is ftarv’d, and felning of Vines is the End of Septemberor the Beginning of Odfober, for the Reafons before dom comes to any Size, as I have feveral times obferv’'d; therefore a great Regardfhould be laid down. The latter End of /pri/, or the Beginning had to the Summer Management of the Vines where Perfons are defirous to have their Ernie of May, when the Vines begin to fhoot, you excellent and duly ripen’d. mutt carefully look them over, rubbing offall When the Fruit are all gather’d, you fhould {mall Buds which may come from the old Wood, which do only produce weak dangling prune the Vines, wherebythe Litter oftheir Leaves will be intirely remov’d at once, and Branches; as alfo when two Shoots are produc’d from the fame Bud, the weakeft of them the Fruit will be the forwarder the {ucceeding fhould be difplac’d, which will caufe the others Year, as has been before obfery’d. Having thus treated of the Management of to be the ftronger ; and the fooner this is done, the better it is for the Vines. In the Middle of Mzy, you muft go over them again, rubbing off all the dangling Shoots as before, and at the fame time you muft nail up all the ftrong Branches, fo that they maynot hang from the Wall; for if their Shoots hang down, their Leaves will be turn’d the wrong Way ; which when the Shoots are afterwards nail’d upright, will have their back Surface upward; and until the Leaves are turn’d again, and have taken their right Direction, the Fruit will not thrive: So that the not obferving this Management, will caufe the Grapes to be a Fortnight later before they ripen. Befides, by fuffering the Fruit to hang from the Wall, and be thaded with the Clofe- nefs of the Branches, it is greatly retarded in its Growth: Therefore, during the growing Seafon, you fhould conftantly look over the ‘ines, difplacing all dangling Branches and wild Wood, and faften up the other Shootsregularly to the Wall, as they are extended in Length ; and towards the latter End of May, you fhould ftop the Bearing-Branches, which will ftrengthen the Fruit, provided you always leave three Eyes above the Bunches; for if you ftop them too foon, it will injure the Fruit, by taking awaythat Part of the Branch whichis neceflary to attract the Nourifhment to the Fruit, as alfo to perfpire off the Crudities of the Sap, which is not proper for the Fruit to receive. But although I recommend the ftopping thofe Shoots which have Fruit at this Seafon, yet you fhould by no means ftop thofe which are intended for bearing the next Year, before the Beginning of Fuly, left by {topping them VI pila Vines againft Walls, €&c. I come next to the Culture of fuch as are planted in Vineyards ; but asthe Number of thofe in Fuge land is {mall, and the Experience of them not very great, fo I fhall firft fubjoin an Account of their Planting and Managing their Vineyards in Italy and France, and thenfhalk add fome Obfervations and Experimentsof my own. And firft, I fhall infert a curious Account of the Method the Italians follow in planting their Vineyards, and making their Wine, which1 receiv’dfrom aningenious Correfpondent in that Country, who hath fome Vineyards of his own, and hath been very exaét in his Obfervations upon the different Methods nowpra¢tis’d by the Italians in their Vineyards ; which is as follows. The Method of managing their Vineyards, and making their Nines in Italy. 1, As to the Soil; next to that of Chianti, which is in a manner all rocky, they prefer that ofthe hilly Parts of this Country, which has a warm, ftony Bottom, with a loamy Superficies ; and next to that, fuch as has a lime-{tone or chalky Bottom, with a reafonably deep Surface of any good Earth ; but in the Plains, where the Wines are nothing comparable to thofe of the Hills and Mountains, they are forc’d to content themfelves with any tolerably good Sort of Ground, that is neither fandy nor light to Excefs, nor too clayey of binding, thougha pretty {tiff Marle does well enough. 2. As to its Expofure, they chufe one that is due South, or that inclines to the Wett rather than to the Eaft: And in the Plains, they are oblig’d to be contented, as will be here related, with a North one for part ot their Vineyards; which they fence, however if not naturally cover’d with fome Wood or adjacent Hill, with either a good Hedge ora too foon, you caufe the Eyes to fhoot out ftrong Jatera] Branches, whereby they will be greatly injured. Thefe therefore fhould be train’d upright againft the Wall until that time 5 when their Tops may be nipp’d off, to give Strength to the lower Buds. During the Summer Seafon, you fhould be Stone-wall, againft the NorthernBlafts. 3. The Manner of preparing the Ground very careful to rub off all dangling Branches, and train up the Shoots regulariy to the Wall, for Planting, differs according to the Situation which will greatly accelerate the Growth of the of it; being perform’d one Way when on Fruit ; and alfo admit the Sun and Air to Mountains; another when on more moderate to that them, which is abfolutely neceffary to ripen, Hills ; anda different, in fome refpects, and give the Fruit a rich Flavour; but you whenon a Plain or Level. In thofé Plains which are very mountainous muft never diveft the Branches oftheir Leaves, as is the Praétice of fome Perfons; for altho’ and rocky ; as alfo the Hills, where the Botthe admitting of the Sun is neceffary to tom of Stone is found near the Superficies, and ripen them, yet if they are too much expos'd ishard, they, with the Help of proper Inftruthereto, their Skins will be tough, and they ments, or elfe with Gunpowder, make a Trench will rarely ripen: Befides, the Leaves being of four Feet and a half deep, and ee an w Eaft to and an half wide, drawing it from yet always Welt, (and tho’ it may be near, or Top of the fomewhat under the Summit the North from Mountain, ‘to be cover’d of the Stones Wind thereby) ; and with part Foundation, they which they raife out of the| r) jut a dry Wall (#.¢. without Morta make twelve Feet below below the Trench; about h in like manthis they make a fecond Trenc the T renches, ner, levelling the Groundbetween Crows of as well as they can, with Mattocks, ’d fo procec dtill they have finifh Iron, €@c. and to plant. the whole Ground they intend to keep The Ufe of thofe little Walls is wath’d the little Earth there is from being the carrying off away by impetuous Rains: For els at conof which, they make proper Chann Plantation, venient Places; {fo that the whole r magniat fome Diftance, refembles a regula at ficent Pair of Stairs. In which Trenches, the other, about three Feet diftance one from flantthe Cuttings of Vines, fomewhat theyplant a half or near ing, about the Depth of two and hereafter three Feet: Which being drefs’d as ng, their Beari related, and when they come to make a moft being kept of an equal Height, agreeable Profpect. / Veil firft Trench over to the South-fide 1 trench’d, they proceed to trench in the fame manner on the North-fide, as far as yn extends; when in the laft Trenc will naturally remain a Ditch (the which fome very curious People wall w , dry Wall) to carry off the Water, whence they take Care to make proper Drains to« it away. we being done, they proc iece of Grounds/giving each Side thereot proper Declivity, fo that it fomewhat re- fembles a Roof that is not fteep, or, as they here term it, a Mule’s Back, bearing the fol- lowing Figure : And thusthey dotopreferve the Ly, psp LYity, ure Vines they plant the longer, and to make them render better Wines, whilft thofe that are planted on the Flat, and on the Borders of Ditches, where they are fupported by a fort of Pop s, and ferve for the Divifion of the Co s, though the Vines growto a great Thicknefs, and produce much’Fruit, yet they render a Wine that is goodfor little, and will not laft above thirty-five or forty Years; about four, h Trenc a dig they s, ainou mount whereas what is fo planted, being tol and a half Feet and a half deep, and three well look’d after, holds good for one hundred to the but not very When the Groundis hilly, wide ; andthen having thrown the Earth andfor! or one hundred and fifty, and in with the Earth they will laft above three hundred Northward, they makea fecond fo on,one under whereof they fill the firft, and there accounting thofe of one finifh’d the Years, they andclofe to the other, till they have hundred Years old as young Vix for g fervin t thelaf wy in good Part the Charg Ground they wouldplant, Into which, expenyi ve, thofe in the Plains, a Ditch to carry the Water off: little make alfo they at proper Diftances, firft Year, fow a Hole of Melons be it and having fo Ditches to convey the Waters Vine, which they make about ten the of out taken Earth the done, and thrown ter, and a Foot deep, filling abot Ground, and firft Trench on to the trench’d it with good macerated Dung, ¢ Decli r prope even an it give to as levell’d it fo fine good Earth, (of which 1 of Vines in Cuts the with it plant vity, they Diftance Floodsis efteem’dthe beft) i Quadrangles or other Manner, at the Sifteen or twenty 3 more, as they or half a and Feet five ut ofabo If ftony, fore they put out the domejt think moft proper for their Ground: three ofthe ftrongeft in Tops of all but two or at mojft as practis’d in the manner before related, as they do it the Mountains; but if not, then ter defcrib’d. _ in the Plains, as will be hereaf ona Plain When the Vineyardis to be made the Part out or an exaét Level, having ftak’d out the Divithey defign for Walks, and laid next Careis, fions they intend for Vines, their r Declivity, that each of them have a prope to carry the and that there be good Drains make the Water off; in order to which, they e of the Difirft Trench exactly in the Middl Welt, of the to Eaft from ding exten vifion, near four half, and Depth of four Feet and a Earth taken out Feet in Breadth, throwing the at the Bottom of it Northward ; when laying t any Sort or almof Stones, Brufhwood, Bones, it, they proceed of Rubbifh to raife and drain with the Earth of to the fecond Trench 3 and fo on ull they which they fill the firft, Divifion exhave finifh’d as far as the fecond Bottom of tends Southward, laying at the can get 5 they as fh Rubbi fuch h Trenc every out of the taken Earth the ing remov en andth Plants, which they leave to bear Fruit, and order ch they plant Cauliflowers, accordingly. Afte or Brocoli of Cauliflowers 5 and this they alfa do in the Hills fo trenched; but in the Mountains Melons do not well in the Trenches 3 but BeetRoot is often produc’d, and Cauliflowers. The Ground being fo order’d, where the Vineyardis in a Plain, or on the Hills, they proceed to mark it out with Lines, according ento the Diftances they would plant at, deavouring to do it in Rows about three Feet and a Vine from Vine; and about four, or four part half, from Row to Row, but for the moft Diftance of ina Quadrangular manner, at the other, drawabout four Feet one from the In the ing Lines lengthways and athwart: Vine in the folCrofs they plant the Cut of a lowing, manner: i is Having an iron Crow of an Inch orbetter they diameter, a little pointed at the End, therewith make an Hole direétly down about pro three Feet and a half deep; then being g8R vided |
