Appendix. 211 



Though the progressive grape-grower of today would not recommend 

 the planting of this variety for general home or market use, it were 

 better that those who have vines of this variety growing on their prop- 

 erty give them the best care and thus obtain a quantity of fairly good 

 fruit than to destroy them before other and better varieties have been 

 tested and become productive. By using care it is not necessary even to 

 destroy the root system of the old vine that has become established, but 

 it may be grafted with a better variety, in just the same manner that one 

 would graft a tree, with this difference: the main stem of the vine should 

 be cut off at a point three or four inches below the surface of the ground. 

 If the grafts are inserted at this point in the usual manner of cleft- 

 grafting and then the soil placed back over the wound little difficulty 

 will be experienced in transforming the head of an old Isabella or other 

 undesirable variety into one of more favorable qualities. This work of 

 grafting should be performed while the vine is still dormant. 



SOIL AND LOCATION. 



Barron, t an English authority upon the grape, writing upon this topic 

 says: "The vine is a plant which is found growing with extraordinary 

 vigor under very opposite conditions and in soils of absolutely different 

 composition. The physical condition of the soil is very much more 

 Important than the elements of which it is composed." 



Phillip Miller, an English horticultural authority, writing upon this 

 subject in 1768 made this statement: "An ideal soil for the grape is a 

 light, loose, brownish sand, with coarse gravel, and at a depth of twenty 

 feet, water."* 



The experience of fifty years in Western Oregon has confirmed both 

 of these views in so far as they do not conflict, i. e., as to physical con- 

 ditions. 



Our growers have found that the grape, at its best, delights in a deep, 

 warm, mellow soil, but it is not unyielding in this respect, for it can be 

 grown successfully in nearly all soils, if supplied with ample food sub- 

 stances, and the climatic conditions are such that the blossoms are not 

 injured by frost in the spring or the fruit prevented by a low temperature 

 from ripening in the fall. 



As a rule the more successful growers of Western Oregon find the fir 

 hill land or the sandy, loamy river bottoms best adapted to profitable 

 grape growing. The heavy clays of the first and second benches are so 

 cold that the fruit develops slowly and is frequently unable to ripen 

 before the fall frosts and wet weather seriously injure it. Vines should 

 be planted in such places as have good air drainage, or in places that 

 are protected against cold air currents by the presence of a considerable 

 body of water. 



While our vineyardsists generally prefer a south or southwest exposure, 

 there are profitable vineyards with western, eastern and southeastern ex- 



t Vines and Vine Culture, 1900. 

 * Dictionary of Botany. 



