GRAPES AND WINES IN CALIFORNIA. I45 



close as persons ought to plant. If planted closer, the vines, -when 

 five or six years old, will branch out considerably, and in the 

 months of May, June, and July, all the tender vines would be 

 broken by using a horse and shovel-plow. The planter would 

 be therefore compelled to employ hands with hoes, and this would 

 cost, in the first instance, ten times as much as horse-power ; and, 

 secondly, it would not do as good work, for no man will hoe as 

 deep as a shovel-plow goes. Persons laying out vineyards must 

 not be miserly, but leave wide roads — say twelve feet ; at least 

 one road every fifteen rows, which would be one hundred and 

 twenty feet apart. Otherwise, when the vines bear and the grapes 

 are picked, the person picking them must carry a heavy basket a 

 long distance, to the road where the cart stands to haul it to the 

 press-house. In reality, no person will lose any thing in the 

 crops on account of the road, for the rows adjoining each side of 

 the road will bear more, as they have an additional four feet of 

 ground to feed on. No planter should, under any circumstances, 

 plant trees of any description in a vineyard. A vineyard must 

 be a vineyard, and nothing else. I need not waste room here to 

 direct how to lay out the rows. Every man knows that, and has 

 his own mode for it ; but a straight row in every direction is es- 

 sential to a prosperous cultivation. 



Digging Holes. — When the land is laid out as above recommend- 

 ed, and a stick staked at every point where a vine is to be plant- 

 ed, a hole must be dug twenty inches square, a]^d about two feet 

 deep. The ground from the hole is to be laid out as follows : 

 the top ground to your right, the second ground to your left, and 

 the third in front of the hole. Then the bottom of the hole should 

 be well dug up with the spade, leaving the last ground in the hole. 

 The earlier the holes are thus finished before planting, the better ; 

 then, the longer the earth is exposed to the atmosphere, the more 

 it will be fertihzed. Before you begin to plant your vines, have 

 the holes filled — for rooted vines to about six inches from the 

 top, if for cuttings about ten inches. 



[In regard to the distance between vines, we would observe 

 that, for CaHfornia, our opinion in regard to the space of eight 

 feet has not changed ; but we,have some hesitation in express- 

 ing a recommendation for the same distance after having seen 

 the fine Burgundy Pineau and the world-renowned Eiesling plant- 

 ed so closely. Whether these grapes will give the same gener- 

 ous wine, with that exquisite bouquet, if planted eight feet apart, 



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