306 APPENDIX I. 



with alluvial deposits. Occasionally the upland is slightly loamy, but for 

 the most part entirely sand, as above described. 



" Dr. Underbill plants his vineyards either in spring or fall as may be 

 convenient, setting the vines seven feet apart, in rows six and a half feet 

 from each other. TWs will take about one thousand to the acre. In his 

 position as to climate and weather, he thinks the question of the inclina- 

 tion of the land immaterial, though further north he would prefer an 

 eastern or southern exposure, or one varying neap these points. He has 

 found it best to place the rows so that the prevailing summer winds may 

 have free course through them — contrary to the European practice, in 

 which circulation of the atmosphere is avoided, chiefly on account of the 

 frequency of cold storms. He has found that here it is beneficial, pr^ 

 venting mildew and promoting the healthiness of plant and fruit. 



" In the number of plants to the acre his practice is also widely diver- 

 gent from that in Germany and about Cincinnati — where twenty-five 

 hundred is an ordinary thing. By placing- them at greater distances he 

 is enabled to 'secure a crop the first year,' as he remarked — if not of 

 grapes, of something else between the rows, and as the vines do not bear 

 until the third summer this is a matter of some importance. They are 

 also taken care of much more easily, as horses can be employed to culti- 

 vate the ground, where only men could otherwise be admitted, and, 

 finally, he thinks the yield quite as good and great, as can be produced 

 from more plants on the same space. In fact, in ten years, if the vines 

 crowd at all, or the land is too rich, he sometimes finds it expedient to re- 

 move every other vine in the rows, thus leaving only five hundred to the 

 acre. One man, according to his mode, cares for six acres — at least four 

 times as much as he could do on the German plan. Dr. Underhill is op- 

 posed on the most stringent principles to allowing any of his land to lie 

 waste and idle, and by obtaining two crops from it before the grape 

 becomes large enough to produce, compels the vineyard to pay while it 

 is being made, though after the vines begin to yield he entirely excludes 

 every other species of vegetation. 



" To adapt the ground as nearly as possible to the exact wants of the 

 grape, has been the subject of many and long experiments with Dr. 

 Underhill. During his first trials he expended a great deal on artificial 

 fertilizers, but further experience has taught him to increase the produc- 

 tiveness of his soil from the resources of his own farm. This he fully 

 coincides with us in believing to be the true principle for every farmer to 

 act upon. It would be a lesson worth the studying for most farmers to 

 see the ecorlomy he displays in preserving all farm manures of whatever 

 kind. He has no fences on his farm — his horses, cows and oxen being 

 stabled the year round. The leaves upon the woodland are raked up in 

 autumn to serve as bedding, and it is found that they pack of their own 

 weight so as to occupy far less room than would be supposed, while they 



