BRIGHT ON GRAPE CULTURE. 33 



and ammoniacal compost per acre, every year or two ; 

 or 300 to 600 pounds of good guano, composted in the 

 same way, or mixed with an equal bulk of plaster, well 

 moistened, a week or two before using it. 



The special manures required for a crop of grapes, in 

 the vineyard and in pot culture, will be described in 

 another section of this work. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL FOR GRAPE VINES. 



The thorough preparation of the soil for the grape 

 border, or the vineyard, by ploughing, harrowing, roll- 

 ing, spading, raking, &c., is probably of more conse- 

 quence than even that of manuring; and by <' thorough 

 preparation'^ we mean more than the reader, unless he 

 is a skilful cultivator, has any idea of. We mean 

 twelve ploughings and harrowings, instead of two. We 

 mean one fall ploughing, left rough for winter freezing. 

 We mean the breaking up of all lumps of earth with the 

 spade ; the most perfect and minute division of the soil 

 that is possible, so that it shall be left at last, as light 

 as bolted flour. It is in such a soil as this that the 

 grape vine delights, a soil which has been worked over 

 and over, in a partially dry state, a dozen times at least, 

 and allowed to sink into a beautiful consistency by its 

 own gravity, without any pressing or treading. We are 

 quite of the opinion, that a good old pasture soil, where 

 no trees, grain^ or vines have grown for twenty years, is 



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