MY VINEYARD. 85 



admirably are being continually discovered, and doubtless 

 new varieties will soon make their appearence, which will 

 be successful in many regions where the present varieties 

 can not be grown. Grapes can be grown at five cents 

 per pound, and leave a reasonable profit at that rate. 

 They ought to be grown in such quantities that the poor 

 as well as the rich can have them in the greatest abun- 

 dance. 



PLEASANT VALLEY REGION. 



The grape region of Pleasant Valley [)resents a remark- 

 able contrast to that of Kelly's Island. The vineyards here, 

 instead of being on level land, are on the steep sides of • 

 high hills. In many places the land is so steep that horse 

 cultivation is out of the question. The soil, too, presents 

 as great a contrast. Instead of clay, we find an exceed- 

 ingly stony soil, in some places appearing as though made 

 up almost entirely of small stones, fragments of slate rock. 

 The best of the vineyards are at Hammondsport, on the 

 sides of hills whose bases are washed by the waters of 

 Crooked Lake. Land on these steep hill-sides, which was 

 almost worthless before the introduction of grapes, now 

 commands from three to four hundred dollars an acre. 

 Little or no manure is used, and underdraining is practic- 

 ed to good advantage on land which is so steep as to 

 suggest the idea that it could be of no possible use. Much 

 of the land is terraced, it being so steep that it could not 



