d and gravel, and they
continue so to Bordeaux. Where they are capable of any thing, they
are in vines, which are in rows, four, five, or six feet apart, and
sometimes more. Near Langon is Sauterne, where the best white wines of
Bordeaux are made. The waste lands are in fern, furze, shrubbery,
and dwarf trees. The farmers live on their farms. At Agen, Castres,
Bordeaux, strawberries and pease are now brought to table; so that the
country on the canal of Languedoc seems to have later seasons than
that east and west of it. What can be the cause? To the eastward, the
protection of the Cevennes makes the warm season advance sooner. Does
the neighborhood of the Mediterranean co-operate? And does that of the
ocean mollify and advance the season to the westward? There are ortolans
at Agen, but none at Bordeaux. The buildings on the canal and the
Garonne are mostly of brick, the size of the bricks the same with that
of the ancient Roman brick, as seen in the remains of their buildings in
this country. In those of a circus at Bordeaux, considerable portions
of which are standing, I measured the bricks, and found them nineteen
or twenty inches long, eleven or twelve inches wide, and from one and a
half to two inches thick; their texture as fine, compact, and solid as
that of porcelain. The bricks now made, though of the same dimensions,
are not so fine. They are burnt in a kind of furnace, and make excellent
work. The elm tree shows itself at Bordeaux peculiarly proper for
being spread flat for arbors. Many are done in this way on the Quay des
Charterons. Strawberries, pease, and cherries at Bordeaux.

May 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. Bordeaux. The cantons in which the most
celebrated wines of Bordeaux are made, are Medoc down the river, Grave
adjoining the city, and the parishes next above; all on the same side of
the river. In the first, is made red wine principally, in the two last,
white. In Medoc they plant the vines in cross-rows of three and a half
_pieds_. They keep them so low, that poles extended along the rows one
way, horizontally, about fifteen or eighteen inches above the ground,
serve to tie the vines to, and leave the cross row open to the plough.
In Grave they set the plants in quincunx, i.e. in equilateral triangles
of three and a half pieds every side; and they stick a pole of six or
eight feet high to every vine, separately. The vine-stock is sometimes
three or four feet high. They find these two methods equal in cultur