it is in Burgundy. The stakes last only some fifteen years, and their renewal forms a serious item in the vine-grower's budget. [Illustration: VINES IN FEBRUARY AFTER THE 'TAILLE.'] [Illustration: THE 'BÊCHAGE' OF THE VINES.] [Illustration: PUTTING STAKES TO THE VINES IN THE SPRING.] [Illustration: APPARATUS FOR FIXING VINE-STAKES.] [Illustration: UNSTACKING THE VINE-STAKES.] [Illustration: NEWLY-STAKED VINES AFTER THE 'BÊCHAGE.'] [Illustration: VINES IN AUTUMN AFTER THE VINTAGE.] In May or June, after the vines have been hoed around their roots, they are secured to the stakes, and their tops are broken off at a shoot to prevent them from growing above the regulation height, which is ordinarily from 30 to 33 inches. They are liberally manured with a kind of compost formed of the loose friable soil termed 'cendre'--dug out from the sides of the hills, and of supposed volcanic origin--mixed with animal and vegetable refuse. The vines are shortened back while in flower, and in the course of the summer the ground is hoed a second and a third time, the object being, first, to destroy the superficial roots of the vines and force the plants to live solely on their deep roots; and secondly, to remove all pernicious weeds from round about them. After the third hoeing, which takes place in the middle of August, the vines are left to themselves until the period of the vintage, excepting that some growers remove a portion of the leaves in order that the grapes may receive the full benefit of the sun, and raise up those bunches that rest upon the ground. The vintage over, the stakes supporting the vines are pulled up later in the autumn and stacked in compact masses, styled 'moyères,' with their ends out of the ground, or else 'en chevalet,' the vine, which is left curled up in a heap, remaining undisturbed until the winter, when the earth around it is loosened. In the month of February following the vine is pruned and subsequently sunk into the earth, as already described, so as to leave only the new wood above ground. Owing to the vines being planted so closely together they naturally starve one another, and numbers of them perish. Whenever this is the case, or the stems chance to get broken during the vintage, their places are filled up by provining. [Illustration: STACKING STAKES 'EN CHEVALET.'] [Illustration: STACKING STAKES IN A 'MOYÈRE.']