54 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



cent, high, portions will be shaded by the adjacent vines, and 

 thus the crop be damaged. It is a bad plan to bury the 

 bodies of dead animals near grape-vines ; they should be com 

 posted with three times their bulk of muck, or like earth, the 

 year previous to application to the vineyard. Trenching is 

 good in warm latitudes, because it gives the vine roots a cool, 

 even temperature. Roots should be free to run downward, for 

 if near the surface they get baked to death. In Madeira, vines 

 have an average depth of 7 feet of soil, and grow only on hills. 



At this point, Lewis F. Allen spoke of the wonderful growth, 

 hardiness, and productiveness of the wild vines of the woods, 

 and wanted to know why these new sorts, which need so much 

 care and outlay, were their superiors. A gentleman present sug 

 gested to him, that if he (Mr. Allen) was content with the qual 

 ity of fox-grapes and their wine, was willing to go to the woods 

 and climb sky-high to get them, the better sorts were not bet 

 ter for his purposes. But, as the world is foolish enough to 

 prefer the Chasselas, Hamburgh, Catawba, Delaware, and such 

 grapes, to the wild variety, and would pay for a bottle of Hock- 

 heimer, Clos Vougeot, or Johannisberg, more than would buy 

 an ocean of currant or fox-grape wine, these better grapes 

 were better for the cultivator. If we want these splendid 

 wines, we must raise the grapes from which they are made ; 

 and, to do this, we must select better soil, give more labor and 

 care to cultivation, and spend more money. 



Dr. Grant said, that although thorough drainage was neces 

 sary where the soil was naturally wet, yet, if possible, such soil 

 should be avoided for one naturally drained say a clay loam 

 or a gravel subsoil. Drains, in moderately wet soil, would be 

 likely to get choked with grape roots ; but if water were con 

 stantly running through the drains, the roots would probably 

 die by immersion in it. He thought that by laying the drain- 

 tiles in, and covering and surrounding them with very poor 

 soil or sand, the grape roots would not pass through it to the 

 drains. The skin of American grapes parts readily from the 



