28 AMERICAi^ GRAPE GROWING 



CHAPTER YI. 



THE VINEYARD.— LOCATION, ASPECT, AND SOIL. 



As the selection of a proj^er location for the vineyard 

 is of first importance, and one of the main conditions of 

 success, great care and judgment should be exercised in 

 the choice. Nearly any soil will grow grapes, at least for 

 the table, and some varieties are so hardy and thrifty, 

 that they can be grown almost anywhere, but with 

 grapes on a large scale, either for market or wine, or 

 both, good and paying results will only be reached in the 

 best locations. 



When writing my first little book I was under the im- 

 pression that the hillsides along our larger streams were 

 best adajDted to the growth and health of the vine. 

 After six years' experience in Souihwest Missouri, on the 

 prairies and high uplands removed from all larger 

 streams, I haye changed my opinion entirely, and now 

 believe that the dry atmosphere and cool breezes of these 

 uplands are much more conducive to the health of the 

 vine. We know but little of rot or mildew here, even in 

 the last five exceedingly wet summers, when the grape 

 crop along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, with the 

 exception of a few such ironclads as Norton's Virginia, 

 Cynthiana, Ives, and Elvira, was almost a failure. 

 Those localities may generally be considered safe for the 

 grape, in which there are no miasmatic influences. 

 Where malaria and fevers prevail, there is no safety for 

 the crop, as the vine seems to be as susceptible to such 

 influences as human beings. 



Keeping this fact in view, we may consider our high 

 table lands and hillsides, where the vines are fully ex- 



