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Show Vi Vi Perhaps the Viguerous may fay, that a middle Plant will be worth nothing among young Vines, becaufe thefe pufh with fo much Force, that their Shoots would choak it. T agree that it may fometimes fo happen ; to the end that they may not be confounded with thofe that are referv’d to be replanted. In the third Place : If the Land where ae would replant thefe old Vines has been well prepard 3 or in cafe one has a Mind to replant but then this isa Proof, that the Year follow- the fame in the Ground from whence they ing there will be found in this Vineyard Wood have been pull’d up, and if it has been plentienough to make Layers there: Inlike manner, fully dung’d : All Things beingprepar’d, there needs no it would be ufelefs to fet a middle Plant, becaufe it is more likely to fail, and becaufe it more but to know after what manner thefe old will not produce Fruit fo foon as the Layers, which produceit the fame Year in which they are made, This Reafoning is more juft than the Confe- quence that they would draw from thence ; that is to fay, that it would be ufelef to plant a middle Plant : For if a Vigneron fhould have the Malice every Year to cut off the Woodof the Vineyard, which might ferve for the making the Layer, and not fet a middle Plant there, the Vacancythat would bethere, would never be fill’d ; and this is the Reafon that a middle Plant fhould every Year be fet in the empty Places, to the End that they may be fil’d out with the Layers. But this middle Plant doing well in the Vineyards of the Vignevous, Lcannot fee any good Reafon that it would not fucceed equally in thofe of the Citi- zens, where the Plants are commonly planted at a greater Diftance one from another than in the Vineyards of the Vignerons, where the middle Plant does very well. The Plant of old Vineyards, or rather the old Vines alfo plucked up to bereplanted, is yet another Species of Plant which, without doubt, appears to the Vignerons a Novelty which furprizes them, becaufe it is not in their Practice, that is to fay, in their Heads, But the Method that I propofe will not thence be the lefs good initfelf, and will not fail to fucceed, provided that the Earth, which is defign’d to be replanted withthefe old Vines, Plants plucked up, are to be cut before they are replanted. Before this fort of Plant is put into the Ground, the Roots muft be cut with a Hatchet, efpecially the biggeft, and onlyleave two Knots of this great Root belowtheStock and at the Top the largeft and youngeft Shoots, provided that they are found and healthful : Then in planting of them, the two Knots of the old Root muft be buried, incafe that it has large ones ; if not, the large Stock only down to the Place where the Shoots are produc’d, fo that the young Wood may be two or three Inches cover’d : And incafeit be too far from the Stock, you muft make the End of the Shoot that is on the Side of the Stock go asfar as the Row, and lay it floaping, i in cafe it be too long. It ought always to be fo order’d, that what young Wood there is bury’d, which comes out of the Ground, be cut near to the Superficies only fome Weeksbefore the Vine begins to pufh. Whenthis old Vine has been replanted,it ordinarily makes new Roots at the End ofthe old ; and whenit fails to pufhat this Place, as it fometimes happens. whenit is too old, it infallibly makes new ones at the young Wood that has been buried ; and this old Root and the Stock rot fome Years after the Vine has been replanted. has been well prepar’d, and if what I fhall In the firft Year this plant puts forth a Shoot above four Feet in Height, and alfo produces and wherethere is fo great a Quantityof Plants fome Grapes which are pretty good, and ripen very well, when Care has been taken to cut off the Shoot at the proper ‘Time. The fecond Year, it gives more Wood and direct be exactly obfery’d. It frequently happens that one has old Vineyards, of whichthe Plants are not equally good ; wanting, that inftead of filling it by Layers, Shoots, or middle Plants, the void Space that is there will caufe one to determine rather to pluck them up, becaufe the Vignerons have an ill Opinion of the Layers and Shoots, and they will fay, that thefé Plants fet between will not fucceed, The beft Method that a Citizen can take on this Oceafion, is to pluck up a Vineyard when hefinds it in this Condition. But as it is the Cuftom to allowthe Vigneron all the Wood for his Labour of plucking it up, becaufe they think the Wood is good for nothing but to burn, I would give them to underftand that they may make a great Advantage of ce ‘ I fuppofe, in the firft Place, that thefe old ines are of a good Kind. In the fecond Place, ee if there are any Shoots of a bad Kind, the G has been taken to cut them down to more Fruit, provided that it becut low. And in the third or fourth, at the lateft, one may have a full Vintage from it. I have deen in one Place in this Vineyard-Plot great Pieces ot old Vines replanted after the aforefaid manner, which have, at the third Bud, not only fine Fruit, and a fufficient Quantityofit, but even to the fourth fo well condition’d, that one might take thence a Plant without hurtin th Wood which ought to be kept to ferve for te ; ; Vine. Neverthelefs, thefe Lands which I {peak of are not better than thofe of this Vineya Plot, for they are in the Parifh of Boig are not accounted any better than thei which makes me believe, that old Vines p! in good Lands would bear better the If there were any Reafon to fear, young Wood buried would foak in the a4 a fome time before the Vintage, or 1€ Years before one pluck up thefe Vines, ter, &c. in cafe that it were planted * Winter, it may be deferr’d till Spt Vii Vi then they muft not fail to prune the Plant to’pluck them up,”andplant them again elfe- at the fame time that it 1s put Ground, or fome Days after. where ; into the or to plant them in the fame Place, cutting them after the manner as is done Neverthelefs, I believs that one may plant to old Vines, whichare re-planted after they have been plucked up, as may befeen in the this old Plant at any time, and in any fort of Ground; becaufe thofe that I have feen, which foregoing Article. But this laft Method aps had been newly planted, have done very well pears to me to be not fo good as the firft, in moift Lands. But not to run too great a Hazard, the Ex- periment may be made after the Manner I propofe, only upon fome Ridges. But fome may fay, To what Purpofe fhould we bury an old Stock, which has often two Knots of the old Root, and one Stem? Would it not be better to plant none but young Woodof thefe old Vines, or to leave only the young Woodon one Part of the Stem? I anfwer, That this laft Methodis not to be abfolutely rejected, becaufe, perhaps, it may fucceed. Neverthelefs, that which I propofe being the more certain, becaufe it is founded upon Experience, and the other yet has not, it ought the rather to be follow’d; for this old Root, this Stock or Stem, Jet it be as big as it will, is not fo ufelefs as may be imagin’d, becaufe it ferves for a Referve to keep in the Sap, and thence which is, to make Cuttings of the Branches which remain upon the Vines that have been plucked up. In ftrong Lands, or fuch as retain the Wa- ter, one ought not to plant but in the Month of May, or elfe the Beginning of June, becaufe it is not eafy to make a Vine take Root in thefe forts of Lands, the Years being often very hot and dry, or very rainy, which are equally to be fear’d, in refpect to the Plant fet in them. When the Rains are frequent and cold, the Plant imbibes the Water in the Earth; and when the Seafon is too dry, its Birk burns towards the Surface of the Earth, It is eafy to remedy, or rather prevent this fecond Inconvenience, as will be made appear in the furnifhes this young Wood, until it has made following Article. But as to the firlt one cannot doit ; for itis very difficult to forefee the Time whenit ought to be done. A Plant fo imbibing is abfolurely dead, paft Recovery, fufficient Roots where it has been andfothere is no Remedy. buried, whence the new Roots are producedindifferently ; for I have feen of them produc’d both from this old Woodand the new that has been buried. Iam of the Opinion, that there is Reafon to doubt, whether one Part of a Stem can produce the fame Effect, becaufe it being flendere-, it contains much lefs of the Sap than a Stock join’d to feveral Joints of old Wood, And as in an Eftate of but a fmall Extent, it often happens that the Lands are ofdifferent Natures, and that of Confequence the Plants of one certain Species will not do well but in one Part of thefe Lands, and will fucceed ill in another ; and that the Seafons are different one from another: andfince they too often happento beeithertoo hot, or too cold, united in an intire Stem, or too rainy, and that the Kinds ot the Plants are good or bad, according to their Nature, and that of the Ground on which planted, and Of the Time and different Manners of Planting a@ Vineyard, the Difpofition ofthe Seafon, Lamof Opinion, to be more certain not to plant any P.anrts but what will fucceed, and to have always tome Lands being of different Natures, there Vintage to gather, that ic will be proper to ought alfo to be different Times of Planting. In Lands that are fandy or full of Flints, as thofe of Olivet and St. Mefmin, and others, the Bottom or Soil of which does not retain the Water, one may plant and interplant after the Leaves of the Vines are fallen, until the eginning of the Severity of the Winter, without being under any Apprehenfion of the Plants not fucceeding ; becaufe thefe fort of Lands never retaining the Water, are always wholfome at the Bottom, and therefore the Plants fet in themwill fucceed. They do not ordinarily plant in the Lands of Olivet, of St. Mefmin, &c. whole Pieces of Vines entire in the Places where they have been already, becaufe the Cuftom is, not to pluck up in thefe Lands thofe Plants that they find good, either as to Woodor Kind. As for myfelf, I have always found that thefe different Stools, mixed zmong very {mall Onés, make a Grotefque Figure in one and the fame Piece of Land, and could never approve Ofthis ridiculous Method. _ I think ir would be much better to lay own thefe Twigs of Vines, as Layers, or plant feveral Kinds of Plants, according to the Lands that they will agree beft with, efpecially if we be not very fure that one Species of Plant will do better than all others: In fuch Cafe, we fhould plant none but that which may fucceed there. When I fay, that it is often advantageous to have different Kinds of Plants in a certain Extent of Land, I do not mean that you fhould put many Kinds or Plants in one and the fame Ridge, or in one and the fame Row, as is commonfor Vignerons to do, when they plant Vineyards for thofe who are oblig’d to make but one fort of Wine of all forts of Grapes, which neverthelefs they would have pafi’d for pure Auvernat, although there is not in it, perhaps, above a third Part 3 but I mean, that in every different kind of Land, there fhould be planted but one kind of Plant, to the End, that every Kind being feparate, we may, in the time of Vintage, eafily make fuch Wine as we defire, which will be very difficult, if all the different Species of Plants be planted confufedly on: among another + for there will fcarce be found among the Vin9 B rage, |
