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TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



three years, by the time the vines came into bearing, be as compact as 

 they were at first? I think, if clay, the mechanical condition would be 

 worse than at the start. 



Exposure. — I have proven by experiment and observation, conclu- 

 sively to my own mind, that a steep southern hillside is the worst possible 

 exposure for a vineyard, and that a moderate northwestern one is the 

 best, and, had I time, I could give the most convincing arguments in 

 favor of this doctrine. But the simple incline of the soil one way or 

 another need have but little to do in the selection of a vineyard site. 

 Good success can be obtained on any exposure, except it be one that cuts 

 off the morning sun entirely. 



Pla?zting. — Grapes should have more room than we have been in the 

 habit of giving them. Say rows six feet apart, and the vines ten to 

 fifteen feet apart in the row for the strong growers, and six to eight feet 

 for the weaker ones. 



Cultivation. — Vines should always, where practicable, be planted so 

 that they may be cultivated both ways with the plow. While young 

 they should have shallow cultivation, but when the vines are established 

 they should have one deep plowing in the fall or early in the spring each 

 year. This deep plowing should be east and. west one year, and north 

 and south the next. Put the plow in deep; never mind the roots; those 

 you cut or break will be renewed with better ones, and those left intact 

 between the vines will plentifully supply the vine until the new ones are 

 produced. In this way is kept up a balance between top and root, 

 which would be annually destroyed, else, from pruning the vine. 



Pruning. — Any system by which a portion of the growth of the year 

 before is pruned out in the fall or early in the spring, and by which the 

 vine is kept securely in position, away from the ground, will produce an 

 abundance of good grapes. But most intricate systems have been de- 

 vised and practiced, some of them veiy faulty, for producing fruit of extra 

 size and quality. I believe every system to be faulty that only admits of 

 the vines being plowed in one direction. The so-called spiral system, as 

 practiced to some extent around Alton, is one of the best. I have made 

 a close study of them all, and not found one that was not faulty, though 

 all will produce good grapes. A system with a fault should not be fol- 

 lowed. If it is, the continued multiplication of it from year to year must 

 produce ruinous results. I do not believe a vine without some length of 

 trunk as old as itself is in a normal condition. Nature so designed them, 

 and if it was not necessary she would have omitted the trunk, and the 

 grape would have been a woody, herbaceous perennial, like the black- 

 berry. All of the excretions of the vine appear to be thrown ofi" with 

 the old bark, and it is not only possible but propable that if the crude 

 sap of our vines had some feet of old trunk to pass through before reach- 

 ing the leaves we would have less rot, mildew, and other diseases among 

 them. The plan that has the fewest faults, if I may judge, is a simple 

 one that I stumbled upon when I first began to grow gi^apes, before I had 

 read the books and become learned. ( ?) I since find it is the one almost 

 exclusively practiced in the great vineyards of California, and very gen- 



