90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



other than the mineral manures above named to insure plenty 

 of bearing wood and good crops. 



If the soil has not been enriched for the preceding crop — 

 wliich should be corn, to ensure clean tillage — it will be well 

 to add thirty or forty loads of good manure, per acre, well com- 

 posted, at the time of planting the young vines. Cow manure is 

 best suited to light soils, and promotes the formation of roots 

 better than that of the horse ; sheep manure is adapted to the 

 grape, but being stronger, must not be used in so large quantities 

 as is recommended for cow manure. All cultivators will of 

 course understand that horse manure is better than tliat of cow's 

 to lighten and warm a stiff soil, but, as such soil is not the best 

 for the grape, we have i-ecommended the manure of cows and 

 sheep, the first being the best ; but after the first year we 

 recommend the use of mineral manures alone. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



The directions for preparing the ground for planting the 

 grape usually prescribe trenching as absolutely necessary to 

 success in grape culture. In France the custom is to trench 

 about two feet deep ; in Spain, about thirty-three inches (one 

 " vara," or Spanish yard) ; in Italy they trench even to tlie 

 depth of five feet, where it is possible, and it is to be presumed 

 that a custom which has been followed for so many generations 

 that it has become the rule of the case, is necessary in the hot 

 climate and long seasons of those countries ; but in our colder 

 climate and shorter seasons we believe trenching to be per- 

 nicious for the following reasons : 



Deep trenching invites the roots into the colder and less 

 fertile subsoil, thereby inducing a late growth of wood, which is 

 never, except in a very favorable season, so solid and short- 

 jointed as it should be to secure the best and earliest fruit ; the 

 vine also forms roots near the surface, which arc injured and 

 torn by the necessary cultivation, leaving the lower roots to 

 derive from the cold and infertile subsoil the support of the vine, 

 which, in consequence, starts later into growth, and matures 

 its fruit and wood at a later season, if indeed, it is able to 

 mature them at all. 



Heat at the root, " bottom heat " is essential to success in 

 grape culture, and as the soil in this climate is seldom warmed, 



