260 AMERICAN GRAPE GROWING 



finished, the plows are attached to the next two bars, and 

 take the next two furrows. When this is done, the 

 plows are again set out further, either by crooked 

 shanks, bringing them a furrow closer to the vines, or 

 by a square attachment to the frame. I prefer the latter, 

 especially among young vines. Of course, the plows must 

 be one right-hand share and a left-hand one. In loose soil, 

 in our valleys, two horses can pull the machine, but in 

 heavy soil, and on hillsides, it takes four to do good 

 work. The driver rides on the plow, behind the horses, 

 and regulates the depth of the furrow by a lever, like a 

 brake on a wagon, by which he can lift the plow entirely 

 out of the ground when he turns at the end. There 

 should be abundance of room at the ends of the rows, to 

 turn without damaging the vines. 



In cross-plowing, the shares are reversed on the frame, 

 so as to throw the ground to the vines, and the furrows 

 next to the vines are taken first. After the first two 

 plo wings, it can also be converted, in tough, consistent 

 soils, into a cultivator, by attaching four shares and not 

 plowing so deep. It saves a great deal of labor, as it 

 does double the work of a common two-horse plow, 

 needs but one driver, and does the work better. 



Several similar plows have since been invented, which 

 claim to do better and more work; but, so far as I know, 

 none have been fully completed. They will plow about 

 seven acres a day, with two shares attached, and we 

 have cultivated an average of seventeen acres a day with 

 one man and four horses when four shares were used. 



Cultivation during the summer is generally done with 

 sulky cultivators, with five teeth, to make the ground 

 loose and mellow and keep down the weeds, using com- 

 mon field hoes around the vines as often as necsssary. 

 As the system of planting and training admits of cultiva- 

 ting in both directions, it makes it very easy to keep the 

 ground clean and mellow, especially as the dry weather 



