LAYING OUT THE VINEYARD 425 



heavier than those commonly used for wire fence from a 

 third to a half larger and the heaviest should be sorted 

 out for the end posts, for these bear the strain of the wire. 

 An experienced farmer need not be told that they should be 

 sharpened with a true lead -pencil taper, excepting the 

 crooked ones, which should be so beveled as to counteract 

 the crook in driving. 



"The usual distance apart for the posts in the row of 

 grapes is one post to every three vines, or, in other words, 

 twenty- seven feet, and for ease- in stretching the wire, they 

 should be in as straight a line as possible. The posts are 

 driven, but a hole should first be made by an unusually 

 large crowbar with a bulb near the lower end. After the 

 posts are stuck into the holes, they are most conveniently 

 driven by the operator standing in a wagon which is hauled 

 through the row by a horse. A fair weight of maul is 

 twelve pounds, and it requires a good man to swing one of 

 that size all day. Iron mauls are commonly used because 

 they are the cheapest, but one with an iron shell filled with 

 wood "brooms" or frays the top of the post less than the 

 iron maul. Eighteen inches is a fair depth to drive the 

 posts on most soils. If the proprietor delegates the driving 

 to another man, he had better direct that twenty and 

 twenty-two inches be the proper depth, for to the man 

 swinging the maul the post seems deeper than it really is. 



"A vineyard should have a break or an alley at right 

 angles to the rows as often as every fifty grape vines, for 

 the purpose of dumping grape brush and shortening the 

 trip when hauling fauit. If the vineyard is in fair thrift, 

 longer rows will give so much brush as to be inconvenient 

 in hauling out. 



" The end posts should not only be the largest of the lot, 

 but should also be well braced. The most common mode is 

 the "hypotenuse brace," consisting of a stiff rail or a four- 

 by-four scantling twelve feet long, with one end notched 

 into the post about midway between the two wires, and the 



