1879 Facts About Champagne and Other Sparkling Wines

The Vines of the Champagne and the System of Cultivation. 45

is practised by the men. An expert labourer will set up as many as 5,000 of thes~ stakes in tbe course of the day. After the yines have been hoed around their roots they are secured to the stakes, and the t9ps are broken off at a shoot to prevent them from growing above the regulation height , which is ordinarily from 30 t~ 33 · inches. They are liberally manured with a kind of compost formed of the loose friable soil dug out

from the sides of the mountain, and of supposed volcanic origin, mixed with animal and vegetable refuse. The vines are shortened back while in :flower, and in the course of tbe summer the ground is hoed a second and a; third time, the object being, first, to. destroy the superficial roots of the vines and force the plants to live solely on their deep rbots ; and, s,econdly, to remove all pernicious weeds .from round about them. After the third hoeing, which takes place in the middle of August, the vines are left to themselves until the period of the vintage. When this is _over the stakes supporting the vines are pulled up and stacked