TY 



WINE-MAKING IN 



been made on land without irrigation, and it was found that 

 the vines, though of a slower growth and bearing less, made 

 a more delicate and higher flavored wine than on irrigated 

 ground. Many progressive men, encouraged b) f the evident 

 success with the Mission grape, imported cuttings of choice 

 varieties for trial from France, the Rhine and Spain, often 

 at heavy expense and risk; they were planted in different sec- 

 tions, and mostly found to succeed well. The introduction 

 of the Zinfandel grape, the first variety from which a creditable 

 claret was made, also gave a new impetus; more care and 

 skill was applied in handling the wines, and they slowly but 

 surely found a market at fairly remunerative prices. Large 

 wineries were built, more improved machinery applied, and 

 the wine makers who had started them, and could sell their 

 wines to the dealers when six months old, at a fair profit on 

 their labor, raised the price of grapes until grape growing be- 

 came a very lucrative business again. Farmers found that 

 the lands they had cropped with cereals until they were ex- 

 hausted, and would not produce grain, would still yield large 

 crops of grapes, for which they had a ready market at home. 

 It is certainly not surprising if they became over sanguine, 

 until everybody and his neighbor planted grapes. As the 

 Mission was known to be productive, and they could sell all 

 they could grow, a good many vineyards of this variety were 

 again ^planted, together with a large acreage of Zinfandel and 

 Malvasia. The vineyards were, to a large extent, planted by 

 men who had little appreciation of fine quality, but planted 

 grapes simply for the money they could make out of them. 

 Rich bottom lands, which were easily cultivated and pro- 

 duced heavy crops, were naturally preferred to the less rich 

 hillsides, with more laborious cultivation and lighter crops. 

 The common system of stool pruning, so convenient and easy, 

 was used for all varieties indiscriminately, and many of the 

 choice varieties, such as the Riesslings, Pinots, and others, 



