Grape Culture. 



1G» 



team must be stopped at every round 

 and hitched to the hindmost plow, and 

 vice versa. I think it indispensable 

 that the subsoil be loosened in some 

 way, to properly plant a vineyard, but 

 never thrown on top ; and this is the 

 cheapest way to do it that I know of. 

 Some three or four years ago I thus 

 broke up about ten acres, at a cost of 

 about fifteen dollars an acre ; in order 

 to break sixteen inches, I found three 

 big mides w^ere necessary for the fore- 

 most team, and six oxen for theMape's 

 subsoiler that followed it. We thus 

 thoroughly broke something over half 

 an acre a day. 



This work should be done in the 

 fall. Next spring, as soon as the soil 

 becomes friable^ it should be harrowed 

 smooth, and rows marked out with a 

 two horse plow eight feet apart, and 

 then rows diagonally across eight feet 

 apart, with the same implement. Two 

 horses are better than one, because the 

 guide stakes are more directly in view 

 between the horses, and a straighter 

 furrow can be run, whereas one horse 

 would be directly in the way and ob- 

 struct the view ; besides, the larger fur- 

 row we can turn the better. It saves 

 dio-gins:. Thus we have the rows 

 checked oflT eight feet apart, and the 

 holes almost dug for us with the plow. 

 There is but little work then for the 

 shovel to clean out the hole, leaving a 

 small mound in the center, around 

 which to spread the roots of the vine, 

 and the work is done. I think three 

 inches is deep enough for the collar of 

 the vine, and the roots spread at an 

 angle with the horizon of some twenty 

 or thirty degrees. 



It is not near so well to break the 



ground for vines in the spring. My 

 experience would indicate that vines 

 planted in fall broken soil will make 

 one hundred per cent, better growth. 



The selection of varieties to plant is 

 next in order, and about this, opinions 

 are widely at variance. My opinion of 

 the matter may be known from the fact 

 that out of eight or ten thousand plant- 

 ed, three-fifths are Concord, one-tifth 

 Ives, and the balance Norton's Vir- 

 ginia, Cynthiana, Martha, Hartford 

 Prolific, Delaware, and some twenty 

 or thirty other varieties for trial. 



Good layers are, by long odds, the 

 best to plant, one-eyed plants ; and 

 those from cuttings, are simply ridicu- 

 lous in comparison. Plants from good 

 layers have made twice the growth, antl 

 borne twice the fruit that plants propa- 

 gated by any other process have done. 

 My best success from cuttings has been 

 achieved by throwing up a bed twelve 

 inches high and two and one-half feet 

 wide, sticking the cuttings therein while 

 still dormant, butts down, and sinking 

 them in the soil to a level with the top 

 eye. Plank on each side sustains the 

 bed, and extends six inches above it. 

 Across the top common domestic is 

 stretched, and allowed to remain until 

 the latter part of August, when, re- 

 moving the domestic, the cuttings will 

 be found well grown. All the rain that 

 falls filters through the cloth ; as much 

 sunshine gets through as the tender 

 plants require, yet not enough to scorch 

 them, and by reason of the bed being 

 raised above the surrounding surface, 

 warm air has a chance to penetrate to 

 tiie base of each cutting, and stimulate 

 the production of roots. 



There's never any trouble about the 



