246 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



ble with a good four-horse team and plow, following with 

 a subsoil plow in the same furrow. What has been said 

 on preparing the soil, in the first part of the book, will 

 also apply here. The ground cannot be prepared too 

 well ; what is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. 



For planting, the ground is generally laid off in two- 

 acre blocks ; if the vines are planted eight by eight feet, 

 the usual distance, the blocks contain forty-eight vines 

 in the rows lengthwise by twenty-four vines crosswise, 

 with alleys or avenues sixteen feet wide between, 

 making five hundred and seventy-six vines to the 

 acre. Having harrowed and rolled the ground well, 

 to give it a smooth surface, we are ready for 

 marking. Small stakes of redwood, fifteen inches long 

 by half an inch in diameter, are used for the purpose. 

 Establish the four outside lines of the block first, by 

 driving in stakes every eight feet, then stretch one 

 line lengthwise, and another line across, with an active 

 boy at each end to move the line to the next stake, 

 one puts down the marks where the two lines cross each 

 other. If you have a line at each side of the block, 

 and another man, the work can be done still quicker, as 

 two rows can be marked at the same time. 



Of course, the distance between the vines can be 

 changed ad libitum, but I find eight feet a very conven- 

 ient distance, giving ample room for cultivation without 

 crowding the vines too much. 



We can now proceed to planting. As this has already 

 been described in the first part of the book, I need not 

 dwell on it very long. Should cuttings, however, be 

 planted, instead of rooted vines, I would advise planting 

 with a spade instead of a crowbar, as is very often done. 

 The iron bar may answer in sandy soil, where the sand 

 will naturally settle around the base of the cutting with 

 the first rain. But in soils of any consistency, the spade 

 is decidedly better, and takes but little more time. Throw 



