116 THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 



Weed-cutters. These are used to great advantage after the first 

 plowing, and any cultivator may be rigged with one of them, or they 

 may be made as separate tools. The cutter-bar is simply a flat bar, 

 which is bent in the shape of a very wide U, and is fastened to the 

 beams of the cultivator just behind the last shovels or blades. The 

 horizontal part of this cutter-knife should be on the same level as the 

 center of the cultivator blades, and stand as horizontal as possible, in 

 order to be subjected to the least amount of friction. The effect of 

 such cultivator cutters are that no growing weeds are left behind 

 wherever they pass. 



Cutter-sled. I have used with great advantage a combination of this 

 cutter-knife and a sled, upon which the driver could stand and ride, 

 and its use saved time, besides doing the required work well. Such a 

 cutter-sled is, however, only useful in already well plowed and culti- 

 vated soil, and for summer work it is just the thing and can then not 

 be surpassed by any other weed-cutting tool which I have ever seen 

 used. 



Raisin Vineyard Weed-cutter. 



Various other tools are used, and different ones at that in each sepa- 

 rate district. Bach grower has his particular way to cultivate and plow, 

 and not two vineyardists do the work alike. Each one has his favor- 

 ite tools and instruments, which he often changes from year to year 

 or replaces by new inventions of local mechanics or inventors. A 

 description of these tools and the various methods of plowing, culti- 

 vating and bringing the land in proper condition would make a book of 

 itself and would be merely a history of each individual vineyard in 

 the land. An enumeration of them will be found later on. 



The cultivation of the vineyard should b,e continued as long as it 

 can be done without causing injury to the new growth of the vines. 

 The exact number of times the vines should be cultivated is impossi- 

 ble to decide upon beforehand, as almost every vineyard requires a 

 different method of working. It is safe to say that during the summer 

 no weeds should be allowed to grow in the vineyard, and, as long as 

 any of them are left, the soil should, if possible, be cultivated. 

 Every weed acts like a chimney for the moisture in the soil, which it 



