I have found nine feet from row to row the most desirable width, so a wagon can be driven between. 

 Begin plowing each land midway between where the rows are to stand, and back furrow to this 

 center, following the first plow with another, preferably a subsoil plow, as deeply as a heavy team 

 can draw it, remembering that never after the vines have once filled the soil with their roots 

 can deep plowing be done in the vineyard during its life without great -damage. In finishing each 

 land go an extra round or two in the dead-furrow, throwing out as deeply as possible, not less 

 than two feet. Then let land lie idle awhile to receive ameliorating influences of weather. This 

 preparation is best done in the fall, and planting in December or February in the South and April 

 in the North. 



If the land is heavy or seepy, or poor, the dead-furrow should have placed along its 

 bottom, three or four inches in depth, poles and brush, lying close down lengthwise, with crushed 

 bones and leaf-mold from the woods intermingled. When readv to plant, begin at the dead-furn m* 

 with a broad, heavy turning plow, and turn the land back over the poles, bones, etc., until the 

 soil is two feet deep over the poles, and the final dead-furrow, which need not be opened very 

 deep, is midway between where the rows are to be set. A cross section of the lands thus prepared 

 would present something of appearance, shown in figure below. 



Section Across Rows. 

 A. A. Poles, Brush, Bones, Leaf-Mold, etc. 



A vineyard planted on land thus prepared, and of varieties adapted to the climate, should, 

 with proper care, live fifty to one hundred years under profitable bearing. 



The Selection of Varieties 



In planting a vineyard it is desirable to have varieties that, in good soil and location for the 

 vine, will, under good cultivation and proper training, yield the following results: first, health, 

 resisting phylloxera at the root, mildew, anthrax, and black rot on young shoots, foliage and 

 fruit, enduring extremes of heat and cold, drouth and wet weather; long life, not less than twenty 

 years, and extending to fifty years or more under favorable circumstances; a succession in ripen- 

 ing in the Southwest of not less than three months of black, red and white, table and market 

 varieties at all times, and in the North four to six weeks. 



The varieties are not yet in existence which will make a vineyard up to that standard all 

 the way thru; nor can we fill a period of a week with such varieties in every respect. So it 

 is clear that there is much need yet of new varieties until the requirement can be fully met, for 

 there is a brisk, profitable demand for really good eating grapes all thru the South from 

 July 1st until November. 



With the old Labrusca such as Ives, Perkins, Concord, and Labrusca x Vinifera hybrid 

 varieties, such as Rogers, Ricketts, etc., the grape season at Denison, Texas, began about July 1st 

 and ended about August 1st to 10th, leaving the fall season, when grapes are so much relished, 

 without grapes, except those imported from California and the northern states. 



During the last twenty years new, southern-bred varieties, have been produced, ripening all 

 along from June 20th to October, much longer lived, more prolific, freer from disease, than the 



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