THE VINEYARD AND ITS MANAGEMENT 79 



the earth is fairly animated with growth when the vines are 

 planted. Plate II shows a piece of land w^ell fitted for planting. 



Marking for planting. 



Given level land, a well-made marker, a gentle team and a 

 careful driver with a surveyor's eye, and a vineyard may be 

 marked for planting with a sled-marker, a modified corn-marker 

 or even a plow. Some such marker method is commonest in 

 use in laying out vineyard rows, but it is patent to the eye of 

 every passer-by in grape regions that the commonest method 

 is not the best to secure perfect alignment of row and vine. The 

 combination named for good work with any of the marker 

 methods is found too seldom. If the marker method is used, 

 it is put in practice as follows : The rows being marked at the 

 distance decided on, a deep furrow is plowed along the row by 

 going both ways with the plow ; this done, small stakes are set 

 in the furrow at the proper distances for the vines, taking care 

 to line them both ways. Planting holes are thus dug in the 

 furrow with the stakes as a center. 



^Marking by means of a measuring wire or chain is the best 

 method of locating vines accurately in a vineyard. The meas- 

 uring wire varies according to the wishes of the user from two 

 to three hundred feet or may be even longer. The best wires 

 are made of annealed steel wire about an eighth of an inch in 

 diameter. At each end of the wire is a strong iron ring to be 

 slipped over stakes. The wire is marked throughout its length 

 by patches of solder at the distances desired between rows of 

 vines ; to make these places more easily seen, pieces of red cloth 

 are fastened to them. Sometimes this measuring wire is made 

 of several strands of small wire, giving more flexibility and 

 making marking easier, since by separating the strands at the 

 desired points, pieces of cloth may be tied to mark distances. 



In using the wire, the side of the vineyard which is to serve 

 as the base of the square is selected and the wire is stretched, 



