140 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



or a vineyard is not obliged to wait two or three years until his trees 

 or vines bear fruit, but can raise crops and obtain an income from 

 the part of his land not in plantation. 



Our land possesses another all-important advantage. On most of 

 our lands water is found at a depth of from six to ten feet from the 

 surface, and on the same lands water for irrigation is certain to be 

 obtained by boring artesian wells. 



But I am reminded that you wish me to write about the grape, and 

 that I am spinning out these pleasing prospects and self-evident facts 

 too long. I turn with pleasure to that subject, not that I believe I 

 will say much that is new. Many of my confreres who may read 

 this may smile at the many details as being an old story to them, yet 

 a few may find something to think about, and to the beginner it will 

 be some guide by which he can profit; for, if he follows the directions 

 given, he will have some assurance that this same mode has raised 

 vineyards. We have thousands of acres of land which will raise 

 grapes in pajdng quantities without irrigation, and make pleasant 

 and happy homes where are now wastes, covered by chapparal, sage- 

 brush, cactus, etc.; and I believe that these very lands, that are now 

 supposed to be of no value, are especially adapted for the grape, and 

 that, too, without irrigation. I have cleared and planted such a piece 

 of land, and up to this date I have never seen a vineyard that made 

 such growth or produced so well, and without irrigation while plant- 

 ing or since. Most of this vineyard is only one and two years old, 

 yet I have a small corner of such land which is tifteen years old, and 

 these vines have borne more, are larger and of a thriftier growth 

 than other Adnes adjoining on apparently richer land — land that grew 

 good grass, while the sandy, or almost sand, grew nothing but brush 

 and elder bushes, with now and then a sycamore tree. 



EXPOSURE OP A VINEYARD. 



In this land of perpetual sunshine a level piece of land is prefera- 

 ble; and, if a hillside, a northern exposure is preferable to a southern. 

 A level piece of land will absorb nearly all the water that falls as 

 rain, while a slope will shed it. Where irrigation is practiced, water 

 will wash all the finer particles of soil — the valuable portions — away, 

 whereas, the nearer a level the more easily it will be flooded. Nearly 

 all beginners in planting in this are almost sure to make a mistake, 

 for they have learned that the finest vineyards of Europe and the 

 East are grown on hillsides and southern exposures, but they do not 

 remember that in this country the conditions of rain and sunshine 

 are entirely changed. Here we have a lack of water, but an abundant 

 supply of warmth. There a good season consists in a dry and warm 

 summer, here a wet season. A hillside is a necessity there, for it sheds 

 the rains and sooner drains its water, which is taken up by the soil 

 during the rain, and every favorable condition to get all the warmth 

 the sunshine can furnish has to be taken advantage of; whilst here, 

 if grapes are not ripe in September they can hang on the vine until 

 December. 



WHAT KIND OF SOIL IS THE MOST SUITABLE. 



Life has as yet been too short to speak about this subject with cer- 

 tainty, and in a century from now opinions will still have to be mod- 



