Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/211

 a vineyard of one hundred acres in New South Wales, and what profit may reasonably be expected to be derived from such an investment.

In purchasing a piece of ground for the plantation of a vineyard, the buyer would of course select a light soil suitable for vines, and consequently easily trenched. The best French authorities recommend that the ground should be trenched to the depth of two feet, and in some parts of Europe the ground has been sometimes trenched to a much greater depth than this. I have, however, occasionally seen light friable soils in New South Wales, preserving an homogeneous character to the subjacent rock, and which seemed sufficiently loose to be adapted for vines without any necessity for trenching; but, in general, this operation is indispensably necessary. I will suppose that the operation of trenching the land to the depth of two feet costs £16. an acre. Land, the trenching of which would cost more than this would be altogether unfit for vines:—