STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 163 



merable little valleys, rich in all the elements of fertility, formed from 

 the debris of surrounding hills, and perfectly drained by nature, afford 

 all the facilities for cultivation, which costly labor expended on a hill 

 side could never compete with. 



PREPARATION OP TIIE SOIL. 



Land for a vineyard, if new, should be grubbed and cleared perfectly, 

 the natural growth burned, and the ashes distributed evenly over it. 

 Old land should be heavily manured, to renew its former fertility. In 

 either case, the soil should be ploughed deeply, subsoiled, and lie fallow 

 one season. Before planting, it should be ploughed again, and well har- 

 rowed. According to the extent and location of the vineyard, roads, to 

 facilitate subsequent operations of culture, gathering, and transporting 

 the grapes, should be surveyed and marked out. It is advisable that the 

 roads remain unploughed, but the grass and weeds should be mowed, 

 thus preventing the inconveniences of dust. 



DISTANCE TO BE PLANTED. 



In vineyard culture, six by six feet is as close as admissible, and eight 

 by eight feet is fully required by the vines. The rows should, as much 

 as practicable, run north and south, east and west. 



If the plat of ground is not a parallelogram, run a base line its whole 

 length ; on this measure and stake the distance between the rows you 

 design to plant, the stakes to remain stationary as guides. At a right 

 angle with the base, stretch your line the whole length of the row, and 

 measure and stake out the row. Repeat this operation until the whole 

 of the land is laid out. 



Some advise to checker off by stretching lines along the rows, crossing 

 the same at right angles with a line ; or to use a line with the distances 

 on it, marked with colored cloth. Unfortunately, the constant variation 

 in the length of such a line, consequent upon its constant extension or 

 contraction by loss or absorption of water, makes such a process imprac- 

 ticable unless a chain is used; still, the use of a measure twelve or six- 

 teen feet long is economical, expeditions, and insures sufficient regu- 

 larity. 



Should the soil be of even richness, say thirty inches deep, and 

 thoroughly pulverized that depth, the planting would be a rapid opera- 

 tion, merely requiring the removal of the survey stake, enlarging the 

 hole with a crowbar the proper depth, and inserting the cutting to such 

 a depth that the topmost bud remains one inch above ground, and replac- 

 ing the stake two or three inches from the cutting along the line. But 

 as those favorable conditions arc seldom supplied, it is advisable, and 

 fully repa}-s the cost, to have, at the proper distances, holes dug at least 

 thirty inches deep in good, and deeper in stiff or rocky soil, twelve by 

 twenty-four inches in size. The holes should be, before planting, filled 

 four to six inches with broken bones or well decomposed manure^ and at 

 planting filled in with the best top soil. 



Many controversies have arisen from varying opinions as to the proper 

 length of grape cuttings preferable for planting, the disputants entirely 

 overlooking that the design of nature governing the growth and exten- 

 sion of roots admits of no variation, the rootlets enlarge by the forma- 

 tion of cells at the extremities, and those cells are formed by the pabu- 

 lum supplied by the surrounding soil. To secure the newly formed and 



