ebrated wines.

The vines called the _semilion_ and _muscat-fou_ are very extensively
cultivated, those most noted are the black _morillon_, of two varieties,
the _madaleine_ and the vine of Ischia; the latter produces fine fruit
as high as north lat. 48 deg..

The bloom upon the grape, which so delicately tints the skin, is
considered in proportion to its prevalence a proof of attention or
negligence in the culture.

The age of which the vine bears well, is from sixty to seventy years, or
more, but in the common course of things it is six or seven years
before it is in full bearing. The vines are pruned three times before
they bear fruit, when this operation is again repeated. In France the
vine is propagated by layers of buds, which are taken up after the
vintage, and by slips chosen from among the cuttings; vines from the
latter live longest and bear most fruit, though those from the layers
shoot earliest. The general method of training the vine in France, is
the "_tinge bas_" or low stem training, the young shoots of the year
being tied to stakes from four to five feet in height.

The season of the vintage is one of stirring interest and alacrity, the
merry groups of grape gatherers now to be seen in almost every field,
commence their employment as early as possible after the sun has
dissipated the dew, and the gathering is uniformly continued with as
much rapidity as possible, if the weather continue fair, so as to
terminate the pressing in one day.

In concluding this subject, we may very well exemplify the general
distribution of the vegetable tribes in this part of France, by
observing that merry _Bacchus_ presides over the cheerful hills, _Flora_
and _Pomona_ grace the laughing vallies and the sylvan shades, while the
bountiful _Ceres_ extends her dominion over the upland plains, and the
smiling prairies of the fertilizing Cher and Loire.

GEOLOGY OF TOURAINE.

_The GEOLOGY of Touraine_, being of a nature particularly worthy the
attention of the scientific enquirer, we may properly close these
restricted remarks, by a few cursory observations on so interesting a
subject. In contemplating the geognostic structure of this department,
the eye of the investigator encounters none of those strikingly bold and
sublime operations of nature, almost every where to be met with in the
primitive and volcanic regions of the globe.

Here with but a few solitary exceptions, the whole surface of the
province p