30 OPEN AIR GKAPE CULTUEE. 



CHAPTER II. 



SOIL. SITUATION AND ASPECT. 



Soil. — ^Tlie vine will grow in almost any situation, 

 and reach a large size and exhibit luxurious vegeta- 

 tion under conditions apparently the most unfavor. 

 able ; but if healthy vines and fine fruit be desired, it 

 is necessary to choose a soil where the roots can ram- 

 ble freely, find plenty of nutriment and be safe from 

 stagnant water and its accompanying cold, sour sub- 

 soil. One of the largest vines in the country grows 

 in a swamp in Kew Jersey, and a vine has been known 

 to grow vigorously from a cleft in an old wall twenty 

 feet from the ground. But these are by no means 

 examples to be imitated in practice where we have 

 the power of selecting the site of our garden or vine- 

 yard, though they afford encouragement to the 

 amateur who is compelled to make use of an inferior 

 location. 



The opinion of good grape culturists is that any 

 soil which will grow good Indian corn is suitable for 

 grapes. Others describe a soil adapted to the cul- 

 ture of the vine as one which will grow good winter 



