160 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



still later, until at last the vine will hardly ripen its fruit at 

 all ; almost certainly not to its proper condition, and the vine 

 is, perhaps, condemned as too late, or imperfect, when the fault 

 lay only in the mode of cultivation. 



Plant, therefore, in the surface soil. Six inches will be deep 

 enough for dry and warm soils — four inches for strong, moist 

 ones. My custom, in planting the Concord grape — and I have 

 had entire success — is to plough the land as you would for corn, 

 harrow the surface, and spread about forty loads, or ten cords, 

 of compost to the acre, to encourage the formation of roots in 

 the young vine. After this the vines will want no more manure. 

 Mark out the rows ten feet apart, north and south, and open 

 two furrows four feet apart, turning up a ridge between them, 

 which must be on the line upon which you are to plant the vines. 

 Go through the furrows several times, until you deepen them to 

 about nine inches. One man bestrides the furrow at the end, 

 and shovels out the ridge of the furrows upon the headland, 

 making a level table the whole width of the furrows, and six 

 feet in length, to the depth of six inches. Another man places 

 the vine in the centre of this table, carefully lays the roots in 

 straight lines, diverging from the stem like the spokes of a 

 wheel, and the first man, stepping back, and bestriding still the 

 ridge of the furrow, covers the vine with the soil, thereby dis- 

 placing just enough from the ridge to make another table for 

 the next vine, and so on until the field is planted. This is the 

 best and most expeditious method I have tried. Rvin the culti- 

 vator through the rows in the summer often enough to keep 

 down the weeds. This is all the culture of the first season. 



The second year tie up to poles for the purpose of getting a 

 straight stem. Pinch the growing shoots occasionally to consol- 

 idate the wood and strengthen the buds. Do not allow the lead- 

 ing shoot to go beyond the top of the pole — six feet at most — 

 nor let the side shoots grow more than one foot long. 



You will think these rows too wide apart ; but I find, in my 

 experience, they are quite near enough for all strong-growing 

 vines, like the Concord, and even with the slower growing vines. 

 I would prefer to plant more closely in the row — say three feet 

 apart — than to lessen the width of the rows ; for, running north 

 and south as they do, the sun lays upon the ground, and upon 

 the whole length of the espalier, during the four or five hours of 



