Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/125

 capable of elahorating the juices of a larger plant, they, are placed at a greater distance, and this distance sometimes extends to six feet. For vines of a middling height, three feet in the rows, and from three, to three and a half feet a-part, are the most common distances, unless it is intended, as is frequently the case in the south of France, to sow corn in the intervals, in which case they are to be seen at all distances.

The method of planting usually adopted for cuttings, where the soil has sufficient consistency, is the dibble. It is made something in the form of a large auger, or like the letter T, the cross bar being wood, and has an iron projection, or stop, about the depth to which the plant is intended to enter. The depth varies according to the distance, it being necessary to preserve a proportion, between the roots and the branches. Where they are to be very close, from seven to nine inches in depth will be sufficient; and where they are to be of larger growth, and more distant, from twelve to fifteen inches.

Whatever be the depth determined upon, the plant must be cut down, to leave only two knots, or eyes, above the surface. It is always the knot nearest the surface, which parts the stock; and if any thing occurs to destroy it, or prevent its shooting, it is only necessary to uncover, with the