SOIL A.ND SITUATION. 95 



and we must refer those of our readers who wish to plant 

 a vineyard upon soils that require draining, to those 

 works that treat particularly on this subject. 



When vines are to be planted upon steep hillsides or 

 upon stony soils, the only thorough method of preparing 

 the soil is by trenching. This is done by digging across 

 the field to be planted a trench two feet wide and two 

 feet deep some recommend three feet or more ; but if 

 it is full two feet it will generally be deep enough, and 

 deeper than nine out of ten do actually trench when 

 they say three feet. After the soil has been thrown out 

 upon one side of the trench, a parallel strip of soil, of 

 the same width of the trench, is thrown into it, and by 

 this means the soil is inverted, the top, or surface soil, 

 being placed at the bottom, and in this way one trench 

 is dug to fill up another, until the whole field is trenched 

 over. The soil taken from the first trench will, conse- 

 quently, remain on the surface above the level of the 

 surrounding soil, and there is no soil to fill the trench 

 last made. It is usual, on level ground, to take the soil 

 that was dug out from the first trench and put it in the 

 last ; but to do this is often inconvenient, and I have 

 yet to see a piece of land, of any considerable size, with- 

 out a spot somewhere upon it where the soil thrown out 

 of the first trench would not improve it by filling it up ; 

 and if the trenching is finished off upon the higher por- 

 tion of the field, the trench last made may be filled up 

 from the adjoining soil without injuring its looks. It 

 does not matter where we begin to trench, whether in 

 the middle or at one side of the field. 



This inverting the soil, as described, is the simplest 

 method of trenching, and is as efficient as any, provided 

 the subsoil is not of a character so inferior that it will 

 not be rendered suited to the growth of plants by being 

 exposed a few months to the atmosphere. The subsoils 

 of light sandy soils are often richer than the surface, as 



