Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/209

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184
ON THE CULTIVATION

where I resided for some time, and I am inclined to think that this estimate must include those extensive tracts of country in the southern parts of that kingdom, where the vines are planted at very wide intervals apart, and the intermediate spaces between the rows cultivated for wheat, barley, buck- wheat, sainfoin, &c.

The greater portion of the French vineyards are planted on poor soils, which would be unfit for any other purpose; and notwithstanding the superior delicacy and value of the wines of France beyond those of any other country, the climate of that kingdom is not, by any means, so well adapted for the vine as that of warmer countries, for besides the loss and damage incurred by frosts, the frequent hailstorms, which are peculiarly prevalent in France, do a great deal of mischief.

The Spanish vineyards round Xeres appear to yield from three to eight hundred gallons to the acre, the average quantity in the larger vineyards being about six hundred gallons for the acre.

In the excellent little treatise on the cultivation of the vine by Mr. Busby, which was published some years ago in Sydney, that gentleman observes, that Mr. William Macarthur made from an acre of vines, only five years old, two hundred and fifty gallons of wine, although a great portion of the grapes was unfortunately destroyed by a hailstorm; and he expected to make double that quantity the next year, and all other years, when unvisited by