STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 143 



CAN GRAPES BE GROWN WITHOUT IRRIGATION? 



This can be answered with certainty, j'es. Some soils are more 

 favorable than others, but every soil tliat with rain will grow any- 

 thing, will grow the grapevines without irrigation, and produce 

 grapes. In observing ditlerent plants which grow, we find a great 

 difference in the quantity of water required by different varieties or 

 species of vegetable life. Though a product be almost entirely com- 

 posed of water, is no evidence that such fruit or plant requires much 

 water. For instance, many kinds of cacti will only grow where the soil 

 is almost devoid of moisture, with much heat, as can be seen on the 

 deserts of Arizona and Mexico, yet the cactus is almost entirely water. 



The watermelon does much better, and is much richer in saccha- 

 rine matter where grown with little water. On the other hand, the 

 rush, which only grows in swamps, is almost devoid, even while it is 

 growing in water, of moisture, and is used by the cooper for the 

 joints in his barrels to make them water-tight. Again, all will have 

 observed that in our dry plains, after the grasses are withered and 

 dead, and the soil is apparently dry, a new order of vegetation springs 

 up, grows, blooms, forms seeds, and dies. From this we see that dif- 

 ferent plants have different natures in regard to their water wants. 

 The grape is one of those plants that does not require the excess of 

 water; or rather, it can exist and grow with a small water supply, and 

 can be cultivated profitably, for a time; how long will depend on the 

 kind of soil, whether a soil is rich in such plant food as the grape 

 requires. I have a vineyard of twenty acres, which is on a side hill, 

 southern exposure, and very gravelly, dry soil. There is no locality 

 on all of my lands drier, and sooner dried out. It formerly, when in 

 a wild state, grew sparingly pin grass, of a very stunted growth. All 

 this land is above my irrigating ditch, so that even if I had a desire 

 to irrigate it, it would be impossible to do so. This vineyard is now 

 about ten years old, and since the second year has produced a fair 

 crop of grapes; and, even two years ago, when we had only three 

 inches of rain, it yet produced more than half a crop for that land. 

 This hillside is planted in the Blaue Elba, Zinfandel, and Berger 

 varieties of gra]3e. Now I cannot conceive of a more severe test, and 

 it is w^orth all the theorizing that could be done in a month. Many 

 persons say to me that for young vines, especially for the first year, 

 water is necessary. Now, the reverse is true. A¥hen once a grape 

 cutting begins to put forth its leaves, when roots have formed, and 

 both proceed simultaneously, then a very small quantity of water is 

 necessary to maintain its growth. The root of tlie vine elongates 

 very rapidly, and if water were scarce at twelve inches in depth, it 

 would soon reach out twenty -four inches more, if the water were 

 there for its wants. 



Plants require water in proportion to their size and the amount of 

 fruit (seed) to mature, or, rather more exactly, in proportion to the 

 size and quantity of their leaves, for these are its surfaces to gather 

 plant-food, in the form of gases, from tlie atmosphere, and to evapo- 

 rate water. All this water, which is evaporated in warm days, is 

 brought into the leaves from the soil, by its roots. It is easily under- 

 stood from this, that a plant that has many leaves has much surface 

 for evaporation. A small plant, therefore, requires a little water, a 

 large one in proportion to its size; whereas, in a vineyard a small 



