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Show Vii ixpofure to the Rifing| lelicious Grapes, > and r Wine, contribute much to its the Winter, tl felves in e€ rons employ ning the th of their by fome Loads of Earth conthey carry thither, they appear to be worn out, {tance to produce the pens, however, but y take Notice of thofe Age, or donot appe and they make large Trenches made, which theycut offto the third or fourth Quantity of Wine, and that by an Order of are many Years in which they dig’tl Joint at moft, The fame they practife on the Vines on the Parliament at Dijon. When the Vineyard has efcap’d the Danger of the Froft, they dig afrefh; and this they call [biner] the digging of the Vineyard the fecond time ; after which the Grapes foon begin to flower, which fpread a fweet Savour all over the Country ; and is the Time whenall the Wines which are in the Tuns in the Vaults, though never fo deep, if they are upon their Lee, without having been drawn off or clarify’d, work, ferment, grow thick, and cover their Superficies with {mall white Flowers like Snow ; a Thing difficult to be explain’d byPhilofophers, in this Queftion, in Phyficks, when they demand Utrum detur attio in diftans. It muft be obferv’d, that all the Vines of the good Hills of Burgundy, pats ftom their Flowers to the Grape ; that is to fay, that the Flower of the Grapes change into Berries in the Space of twenty-four Hours; and if during that Time, there happens a cold Fog, or acold Rain, their Flowers, inftead of turning to Grape, fall, and thefecond Peril is no lefs dangerous than the firft, when that happens; Hills, which producethe fineft Wines ; for as es on the Back-fide, or of the Plain, they cut them to the fecond or the firft Knot, for th s put forth too many Twigs : But as this is an Art of which it will be diff. cult to give the Precepts, becaufe the manner of cutting the Vines i nt, according to ure of the Vine, its Quaon, and Nearnefs to the Sun, [ vith my Diffe When the Vineis cut, they place Vine Props, to which, to the Height of half a Foot above Zarth, they bind the Branches ofthe Vines nd a half Manner ; and afterwards, when th is too the Buds or Eyes are open’d, and have put good Earth, forth Shoots in Length about a Foot and a old well-rotted Dung. half, they embrace them it is to fay, they bind them to the Props fuftain the they pu alf to two F If t which produce them. ito each Trench, and cover f intirely wi the pro rth of the Vineyard, in fuch ma to wit, , and that of the ies out of the Trench t it, about three or four They make a great many hes in a Vineyard, that they fi iwith young Vines that may will pro 1 a ty of Grapes: For it t to be obferved, that this Vine-B down in a Semi-circle in this J Shoot ofthe pre eding Year, kes in two Sorts of N to which it is the other from the Trench in h it been bent, in which it takes t. Thefe are what they call Provins or Theyproduce abundance of Grapes, which ly firft ripe, well nourifhed, large "d, but their Juice is not fo good es of the old Vine: The , that the nourifhing Juice been fo well filtred in paffing through whofe Pores are very open, as irough the Pores of the old Vine, e more clofe andlefs fpungy. with a Spade the Vineyard orditimes a Year, that is, about the End of February or Beginning of March, when they give it the firft time; and it is in this Month of March or about the End of February that they prune their Vineyards. And in this confifts the Addrefs and Skill of the Vigneron, for he ought to make a right Choice of thofe fine Branches that he is to prune, and of the Jointi where he is to cut the Shoot, as well as that which he is to cut intirely off, Thefe Props are of Height of three or four Feet, and the TI nefs of an Inch, are ftuck into the Ground without any Arrangement or Order, at the Diftance of a Foot more or lets the one from the other, according as the Vineyard is more orlefs furnifh’d with Vines. Neverthelefs the End of the Shoots which are there boundhorizontally, as one may lay, look all to the fame Side. This Manner of placing the Props without Order, is of great Confequence, that is, that one Branch maynot be covered bythe Shadow of another but as little time as may be; and that if the Rot comes to fome Grapes, they is, to fay the Vines are (coulé], i.e. drop their Grapes. At the End of Fune or Beginning of Fuly, is the Time when the Vine changes from the Flower to Berries; after which, the Vine has nothing to fear but the Hail, or a too great Drought. Affoon as ever the Vignerons fee the leaft Cloud to rife upon the Horizon, and the Air feems to threatenthe leaft Storm, they have Recourfe to their Priefts and their Bells, and their Pater-nofters, which they would not recite but for Fear that the People would rife againft them if Hail fhould happen during that time that they were not at their Prayers. may not be able to communicate ir to others. who plant their Vines in Hedges ; and thence it is that the one hinders the Sun from fhioing upon the other, and of confequence that hinders the Ripening of the G That is the moft dangerous Seafo The Reafon that they are fo muchafraid of Vine, and the moft delicate, when t been a North Wind, and that has cz imall white Froft: If the Sun comes it dries and burns all young Leaves, the Buds and the Grapes, the fame manneras if Fire had been there. It is for this Reafon that the Friars in J gundy haye Recourfe to Prayers at t more than at any other ; and th has been calm and cold Nigh tious Peafants run to the Churches, and ring the Bells with all their Might. Whether it be that they imagine that God has any Regardto this Work of Religion, or that the Agitation that they make in the Air, may, in fome fort, warm the Air again,.or change the Wind: But however it be, they do at this Time ring the Bells with fuch Violence that th fleeping : During which Time, the Priefts and Monks are bufy in reading in the Churches the Paffion of our Saviour, accordin to the g see here what I have feen praétis’d by the Gofpel of St. Fobu ; and for this Occupati on, Vignerons. Of four or five Sprigs, the Shoots they make a Collection among all the Preffes of a Year, belonging to the {ame Stock or The ‘Term that they make ufe of to expres it, ‘This Manner is contrary to that of the Englifh, in the Morning, atthe ‘Time when they make their Wine, and Vine, they leave but one or two of the beft every Vigneronis oblig’d to give them acertain Quantity Vi ° yards the fourth time, and this is in of Auguft that theygive it this fourth D but they take great Care to d time when the Seafon is not to or onthe contrary, to defend tt the Heat of the Sun, they let th in the Vineyards; this {hades them, the Vapours of the Earth from bur Grape. A Month before the Vintage, the {trates of Beaune, accompanied with experiencd Judges and Perfons of Pr make three Vifits to examine the Ma of the Grapes; and ar this third Vific and Examination, theydecide the Day of gathering the Vintage. No private Perfon dares to cut in his own Vineyard one fingle Basket of Grapes upon’ Pain of Confifcation and a confiderable Fine ; for if it were permitted to each particular Perfon to gather his Vi € accord= ing to his own Fancy, and nion, and according to his Tz be Wines too Countries, to the Difhonour to the Difcredit of the Wines And alfo for Fear that < fpread itfelf over the Vincyar Days before the Vintage, they take not to barn any Straw or Hemp-ftalks in the Streets, left the Smoak fhould give any bad Tafte to the Grapes. The Grapes being come to Maturity, the Magif s give Notice a few Days before by a Trumpet to the Town, of the Time they have appointed and fix’d for gathering the Vintage. Voluet begins firft, a Day before Pomard, and afterwards all the little Hills gather their Vintage indifferently ; for after the Town of Beaune has gather’d their Vintage one fingle Day, the Vintage is open’d for all the other Vineyards on the Side of Burguy the Hail in Burgundy is, becaufe the Vintage Tt will be feen by-and: by why Beaune decides is all the Dependanceof the Inhabitants; and the Vintage of Voluet and Pomard. It will that the Grapes being {mitten by this Scourge, {carce be believ’d, that all the Hills from CZ give to the Wine, in fome meafure, the fame berry to Chagny fhould have their Vintage Tafte and the fame Scent which Lightning gather’d in the Space of four orfive Days; {preads on the Places where it falls, a Scent and alfo it is {carce credible, what a vaft Numwhichis impoffible to take away. ber of Mountaineers from every Part come to As to Drought, it is not only to the Bells, labour in this Work. or to the Priefts that they have Recourfe, They gather the Vintage, perhaps, (and but to one or two Stone-Bufts in two Villages my Conjecture is founded upon more than about feven or eight Miles from the Town of twenty-five Vintages, which I have feen made) Beaune ; one of which Idols is known, and more than two thoufand [Queies] Tails of worfhipp’d under the Nameof St. Revereen, Wine uponthefe Hills ; and the Queiies, which andthe other under the NameofSt. Marguerite : is always divided into two Punchions, fomes They aflemble together, and go in Proceffion times into four Feuillettes, and veryrarely into to fearch in Triumph for this Stone, which eight Cabillons, contains five hundred Bottles they carry folemnly to a Churchin the Town. of Wine, or, to {peak more exaétly, four hun= All the Priefts go in Proceffion, follow’d by dred and forty Pints Paris Meafure. the Parifhioners of which they are Curates, It will be proper here to obferve, that in and they offer their Incenfe and their Prayers, this great Extent, the Vineyards produce but tub their Books and their Chaplets againft one kind of Grapes, which they call Nofrons 3 thefe extraordinary Figures; and oftentimes the Berries of which are black when theyare it happens to rain in this Conjunéture, which ripe, and quite round: The Plain and the does not a little contribute to keep upthis Backfides produce only a fort of Grape, of Superftition in the People. which the Berries are bigger and alittle longer, It is in Fudy that they dig the Vineyard the which they call Gainet. third time; this they call Thirding. 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