GEAPE CULTURE * 



F. E. GLADWIN. 



Location. — The ideal location for the vineyard is gently sloping 

 hind, llany fiiie vineyards are located on steep hillsides, yet the 

 liability of washing and difficulty of tillage tend to render such 

 vineyards less productive and shorter lived. The shores about the 

 large lakes appear to be especially well adapted to grapes, — 

 these districts in some instances extending several miles back 

 from the water. But very rarely can grapes be grown in our 

 northernmost latitudes without the increased labor and cost of 

 covering in winter, except under the tempering influence of larg(3 

 bodies of water. Low situations that prevent a free circulation of 

 air, such as river bottoms and the basins of small lakes, should be 

 avoided, as such locations are more liable to unseasonable frosts ; 

 and also their poor air drainage favors powdery mildew and 

 black rot. There is much difference of opinion as to the direction 

 the rows should run. In the '^ Chautauqua Grape Belt " the 

 'prevailing direction is north and south, where the slope is not 

 too steep. This is ideal for this section, as the morning sun rap- 

 idly dries the dew on the east side of the rows while the prevailing 

 wind dries it on the west. The constant west and northwest wind is 

 probably the chief reason why this district is so free from black 

 rot. AYhere the slope is steep, the rows must necessarily run at 

 right angles to it. 



The foregoing does not necessarily mean that the grape can not 

 be gTO'\\Ti on level land, for such is not the case. Many fine, vigor- 

 ous vineyards are so situated, but, as a rule, sloping land has the 

 better natural surface drainage. The region about a large body 

 of water is usually rolling or sloping. Hence, more vineyards are 

 found on the slopes than on the typical flat land. 



Soils. — Experience shows that grapes n:iay be grown upon a 

 great variety of soils. Productive vineyards are found on loam, 

 sandy loam, gravel, gravelly loam, heavy clay and clay loarn. It 

 is not so much a question of the kind of soil, as the condition of 



* A reprint of Circular No. 19, February 10, 1912. 



[530] 



