of the plant when pulled up. The juices of the decaying bark, too, carried down by the rain, are also injurious, and sometimes destructive to the vine; and this observation is applicable in all cases, as well as in that of the young plant. The season for laying, is the same as that tor planting.
The old age of a vineyard—the approaching epoch of its destruction, is announced by the feebleness of its shoots, by the smallness of its leaves, and by the scarcity and diminutive size of its fruits. When a vineyard has, for two or three successive years, ceased to indemnify the proprietor, and its sterility cannot be imputed to the inclemency of the weather, nor to the ravages of insects, nor to the defects of culture, it must be attributed to old age. But, before its extirpation, a plan has frequently been adopted, and always with success, in those countries where the climate will not allow a large and wide growth; this is, to take out each alternate plant. The roots of those which are left, take insensibly the place of those which have been removed, and a more abundant sap is supplied, without danger of its being less matured, as the canals of the sap are, from age, no longer capable of being injuriously dilated. A vineyard has thus gradually recovered its vigour, and the produce of one-half the number of plants
