happens to be massapes, they mix the araya (the volcanic cinder
before mentioned) with it, and it is considered, that the vine
endures longer in this than in any other soil. It is said to last
sixty years in it, if planted wide enough apart. The ground
being turned up, the trenches are dug from four to seven feet
deep, according to the naturë of the soil, and a quantity of loose
or stony earth is placed at the bottom, to prevent the roots
reaching the stiff clayey soil beneath, which would opposé their
growth. They water the ground three times, if the summer has
been very dry, leaving the sluices open until the ground is pretty
well soaked; the less the ground is watered, the stronger the wine,
but the quantity is diminished in proportion. Some cultivators
lay cow-dung at the roots of the vines when they plant them, and
when the wine becomes poor, mix a fresh quantity with the soil at
the surface: others consider that animal manure injures the
flavour of the grape, and sow the lupinm perennis among the
vines instead; this they do in the January of every second year,
cutting it down and burying it, by turning over the surface of the
soil, after the small rains, which prevail for about ten days at the
end of April. An English acre Will produce four pipes of wine
under the most favourable circumstances; but one pipe seems to
be the average, taking the vineyards throughout the island8. The
propagation is by cuttings, and they prefer the verdelho of the
north, when forming a plantation in the southern part of the
island, as it improves considerably from the better soil, climate,
and aspect; on this they engraft any other variety they may wish:
• The lizards devour immense quantities of grapes ; and are said to manifest a
decided preference for tiie tinta, but this, probably, is merely because the verdelho
grapes are not ripe so early in the season. A cultivator dares not allow his grapes to
remain on the vines, after his neighbours have taken in theirs, however much he may
wish to do so ; for if he did, all the rats of the neighbourhood would adjourn to his
vineyard, and take a ruinous tithe.
the grapes .yield no wine until the fourth year*. The stalks of the
arundo mgittata. (the tops of which are good for feeding cattle),
are used in making frames for supporting the vines, in the
southern parts of the island, and the salix Tubrci for tying them
to this trellis-work. In the north part of the island the vines are
trained around the chestnut-trees, this firmer support being
necessary, as it is said, on account of the high winds prevailing
there; but they generally neglect to cut away the branches which
prevent the sun from reaching the vine, and it evidently languishes
in the vegetable soil natural to the chestnut-tree. If a layer of
light siliceous soil, which the adjoining tufa would furnish, were
laid above the vegetable earth, both trees would flourish equally.
The vines give fruit as high as 2700 feet in Madeira, but no wine
can be made from it: the greatest height at which it is now
cultivated for this purpose, is in the valley of the Coural das
Freiras, which is 2080 feet above the sea. There is much dispute
as. to the best moment for pruning the vines; some prefer February,
others the middle of March; it depends principally, however,
on their foresight as to the weather when the flowering takes
place, which is from six weeks to two months, after the pruning.
As to the treatment of the wines, I have remarked, that the
produce of one year must frequently be treated very differently from
that of another. When the grapes are green, the fermentation
must be checked; when they are wet from unseasonable rains, it
must be assisted; generally speaking, the riper the fruit, the more
difficult the fermentation. A very agreeable liqueur is made in
the island from the second pressure of the grape, (the first
being merely with the feet) into which an equal quantity of
brandy is immediately thrown, to stop the fermentation, and
V Miller, in his Gardener's Dictionary , tells us, that in some parts of Italy, there are
vines which have been cultivated for 300 years; and that, a vine not more than a
century old, is there called young.