74 



THE GRAPES OF XEW YORK. 



there are from two to five distinct terraces between the lake and the escarp- 

 ment. All conditions point to the theory- that these ridges are wave built 

 and therefore of lake origin. The plain, the gravel ridges, the foot-hills and 

 the high escarpment are the chief topographical features of the grape belt. 



The grape soils of the district, as mapped by the Bureau of Soils of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture,' are Dunkirk clay, Dunkirk 

 gravel, Dunkirk gravelly loam, Dunkirk sandy loam and Dunkirk shale 

 loam. The grapes grown upon the several soils vary somewhat as to quan- 

 tity per acre, as to flavor and sugar content and as to shipping quality. 



The largest areas of Dunkirk clay are found running back from the 

 lake east and west from Barcelona, in the neighborhood of Van Buren 

 Point and about Dunkirk. In these regions the soil is a clay loam from 

 several inches to a foot deep resting upon a stift'er and more tenacious 

 clay. Vineyards located on this soil are very productive but the quality 

 is not as high as in the fruit grown on the shale loam, though for most 

 part superior to that produced on the gravel and sandy loams. 



Dunkirk gravel soils are found on the ridges at the foot of the escarp- 

 ment on the southern boundary of the district from Pennsylvania to the 

 eastern boundary of the grape district. Throughout most of this distance 

 there are from one to three parallel ridges varving from a few rods to a 

 half mile in breadth; at many places the ridges run into each other or 

 have been brought together by cultivation. It w^as upon this gravel that 

 vines were first successfully grown. Grapes upon this soil ripen a week 

 or more earlier than upon other soils and these lands are therefore largely 

 planted with vineyards to supply the early market and they have a larger 

 proportion of early varieties than vineyards on other soils. The Niagara 

 is thought to do especially well on Dunkirk gravel. 



Dunkirk gravelly loam is found running through practically the 

 wliole grape belt at the base or on the top of the gravel ridges; if at the 

 base, to lakeward of the ridges. It is a sandy loam with much fine gravel 

 and is underlaid at a depth of three feet with sand and shale fragments. 

 On the surface it much resembles the gravel soils having had considerable 

 top gravel brought there b)- washing and by cultivation. The grai)es 

 grown on these soils are very similar to those produced on the gravels 



' Burke, R. T. Avon, and Marean, Herbert, Piclci Operations, Bureau of Soils. U. S. Uept. of 



Agriculture, tool 



