86 THE GRAPE. 



grapes are less subject to rot ; the juice, however, 

 is not so rich, — lacking saccharine matter, — and in 

 dry seasons the vines will suffer from the drought, 

 shedding their leaves prematurely, and preventing 

 the grapes from ripening properly. On warm 

 sandy soil, the fruit-buds, if swelled in the autumn, 

 are sometimes killed by the frosts of a severe winter. 

 Soils underlaid by a stiff wet clay are to be avoided, 

 as also wet or spongy lands." 



Mr. John Williamson, whose wines have a high 

 reputation, writes, in a letter to Mr. Buchanan : 

 " I consider the proper selection of the soil almost 

 everything in the successful cultivation of the grape 

 for making wine. I have visited nearly all the 

 vineyards near Cincinnati, and feel confident that 

 many of them must eventually fail from a want of 

 selecting at first the right kind of soil ; and yet, in 

 my opinion, there is plenty of suitable land in 

 almost any neighborhood. Some have planted on 

 that of a grayish, gravelly surface, with a heavy blue 

 clay subsoil, impervious alike to water and the roots 

 of the vine, further than it is loosened by the spade 

 or the plough in trenching. Such, if it does pro- 

 duce a growth of wood, causes the grape to rot. 



" Another soil unsuited to the grape is that with 

 a surface of rich mould, underlaid with a stratum 

 of fine, bright yellow sand, clammy and adhesive. 

 This is well calculated to deceive; but it has no 

 strength below the mould, and the vines invariably 



