130 GRAPE CULTUKK AND 



northern part of the State, their greater liability to late spring 

 and early fall frosts. It is rather unpleasant, as well as labor- 

 ious, costly, and fatiguing to watch the thermometer every 

 cool night, to see if it does not approach the fatal 32, and 

 although I hope to show in a subsequent chapter that frosts 

 need not and ought not to be as destructive as is now sup- 

 posed, yet it is a very discouraging thing so see a vineyard, 

 beautiful in promise but the day before, blackened and wilting 

 before that invidious enemy in the morning. It is well known 

 that an elevation of a few feet is often sufficient to save the crop; 

 therefore gently sloping hillsides should always be preferred 

 to valley lands. 



As to the particular aspect, this is not so important in this 

 State, where all grapes ripen well enough, and are rich enough 

 in sugar. The northern and northwestern slopes, however, 

 when not too steep, generally have the deepest and richest 

 soil, though there are exceptions even to this rule. The tim- 

 ber growing on the land is generally a good indication of its 

 adaptation to vines. Where there are large and heavy oaks, 

 manzanita and madrona, where the poison oak (rhus toxico- 

 dendron) grows luxuriantly, interspersed by the hillside fern, 

 and also in the red soil of the redwood region, where this no- 

 ble tree, the fir and Douglass spruce flourish, the soil is well 

 adapted to the vine, though in the latter region also difficult 

 to clear, an item which should also be taken into considera- 

 tion. 



Chemical analysis of the soil, of course, will show us 

 whether that particular soil is desirable. But the difficulty 

 has been mentioned before under which we labor here. Our 

 soil is so diversified that a chemical analysis, unless made of 

 every acre or two, will not give us anything positive to stand 

 upon for a large tract, however sure it may be for the partic- 

 lar spot from which the soil was taken. 



I prefer the soil to be light and friable, although I have 



