Page:A Treatise on the Culture of the Vine and, and the Art of Making Wine.pdf/129

 at top, forming a triangle, to which the shoots of various stocks are attached, and are thus mutually supported, and the grapes preserved from being bruised, or destroyed. This method of culture it very common, from the shores of the Mediterranean, to the neighbourhood of Lyons, and is the method practised at Ostie Rotie, and Condrieu, where it is directed with much care.

In general, as we approach a colder climate, we see the vines reduced in their dimensions.

The proportion which it is necessary to preserve between the sap circulating in the plant, and the heat which is to modify that sap, will not admit of a larger growth; besides, it is only near the surface of the earth that there is a sufficient degree of heat to ripen the grape. In warmer climates, a vine is capable of bringing to maturity a large portion of fruit, and its height, and its branches, may be proportionably increased, but there seems, in this respect, a bound which may not be passed with advantage. It is not only because the fruit of these vines, supported by trees, is, by their foliage, shaded from the rays of the sun, that they yield wine of as inferior description. It is the nature of the vine, to absorb moisture by its leaves, in much greater proportion than, by its roots; and this unmeasured foilage continues to supply a quantity of sap, which cir-