Portage
to Paris, by land, is fifteen livres the quintal. The best _recoltes_
are those of M. Bouquet and M. Tremoulet. The vines are in rows four
feet apart, every way.
May 11. _Montpelier_. Snow on the Cevennes, still visible from here.
With respect to the muscat grape, of which the wine is made, there are
two kinds, the red and the white. The first has a red skin, but a white
juice. If it be fermented in the _cuve_, the coloring matter which
resides in the skin, is imparted to the wine. If not fermented in the
_cuve_, the wine is white. Of the white grape, only a white wine can
be made. The species of saintfoin cultivated here by the name of
_sparsette_, is the _hedysarum onobrychis_. They cultivate a great
deal of madder (_garance_) _rubia tinctorum_ here, which is said to
be immensely profitable. Monsieur de Gouan tells me, that the pine,
of which they use the burs for fuel, is the _pinus sativus_, being
two-leaved. They use-for an edging to the borders of their gardens, the
santolina, which they call _garderobe_. I find the yellow clover here,
in a garden, and the large pigeon succeeding well, confined in a house.
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