284 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



for two years with very satisfactory results. The ground is 

 kept mellow and free from weeds through the whole season, 

 and with the minimum amount of labor and expense. 



I may as well here consider the subject of distance, direc- 

 tion, etc. My experience has led me to this conclusion : that 

 a single vine should occupy, in this locality, about forty-eight 

 square feet of surface. I have set them out usually in rows 

 eight feet apart, the vines six feet apart in the row, which 

 gives about nine hundred vines to the acre. The rows should 

 run north and south, and for these reasons : If a row runs 

 north and south, the morning sun shines upon the easterly 

 side, the afternoon sun shines upon the westerly side ; every 

 leaf gets the sunlight in the course of the day. If the rows 

 run east and west, the sun shines all day upon the south side, 

 and the leaves upon the north side always make an effort to 

 turn round towards the sun. They get all they can. They 

 get, perhaps, nearly as much sun, in the aggregate, with the 

 rows in this direction as the other. But the great difference 

 is this : When it comes September, about the time of ripen- 

 ing, if the rows run north and south, the sun shines directly 

 .upon the ground for three or four hours, during the middle of 

 the day, and it warms up the soil, and that soil holds the 

 heat during the night and radiates it. The temperature of a 

 vineyard will thus be some degrees warmer than otherwise. 

 If, on the contrary, the rows run east and west, the vines 

 shade the entire ground, and hence you lose a large part of 

 the heat. The moment the sun disappears, you have no 

 stored-up heat to carry your vines through the night. This, 

 in the time of frost, is sometimes very important. 



At the close of the season, the vines are to be pruned. 

 Well, why prune them? I am not in the habit of performing 

 operations that I cannot give a reason for. I may not give 

 you a reason in all cases, but I am not in the way of doing 

 any of these things unless I can give a reason satisfactory to 

 mj'self. A great many trees and vines are pruned because it 

 is the fashion. There is an idea that they must be pruned. 

 A man tells me that he has not succeeded in raising grapes ; 

 he has not had them pruned for two or three years, and he 

 guesses that is the reason, — not having an intelligent idea of 

 what pruning is for. A grape-vine should be pruned for this 



