ASPECT FOR THE GRAPE. 131 



That vine is ten years old, and last year it gave me one hundred 

 and twenty pounds of fruit, and this year it gave me seventy- 

 eight pounds. It makes abundant wood. It has not had, from 

 that time to this, any manure of any kind. I have purposely 

 neglected to feed it with anything, even hone-dust, or ashes, or 

 pabulum of any kind, that I might ascertain how long it would 

 thrive without it. It has apparently come to that point now 

 when it needs feeding, for it gave about forty pounds less crop 

 this year than it gave last year, and I shall refresh it with bone- 

 dust and ashes, both of which I consider indispensable to the 

 grape. I mention this fact to show the necessity of heat at the 

 root of the vine — bottom heat — and how much wiser as well as 

 easier it is to plant near the surface than to plant deeply in 

 trenched ground. 



In regard to aspect, it is certain that a warm and sheltered 

 aspect is of great advantage to the grape. It is often equal to 

 a degree or two further south. A south slope, with shelter of 

 wood or belts of trees on the north-east and west to prevent the 

 winds from blowing away the hot air created by the heat of the 

 sun, is always the most desirable. Get and save all the heat you 

 can. If I were asked what element is more needful than all 

 others to the grape, I should say heat. Heat is indispensable if 

 you want to achieve the highest "possible success in gr,ape-grow- 

 ing. Heat at the root and heat in the surrounding air ; planting 

 near the surface secures the first, and sheltered aspect the last. 



No fruit grown is so patient of drought as the grape. There 

 are certainly some few kinds that need forcing with rich 

 manures and irrigating in a dry season, but they are the excep- 

 tions and not the rule. 



Although the grape does prefer this light, warm, sandy loam, 

 in our climate, to heavier lands, it is not by any means certain 

 that it would not do even better in a soil more or less calcareous, 

 for it is found in Europe, and I suppose it to be a general rule 

 everywhere, that a calcareous soil is best suited to the grape — 

 that the fruit and the wine will be of better quality than where 

 the vine is grown in sandy soils. If one therefore had a soil of 

 that description, (and some such soils do exist in Massachusetts,) 

 which yet was a little heavy with clay, it might be ameliorated 

 by culture so as to carry the grape well. I know an instance 

 where, on a heavy soil of a calcareous character, the Concord 



