The Reconstitution of Vineyards in Lime Soils 

 on Suitable American Stocks. 



By Dr. A. I. PEROLD, Government Viticulturist. 



GREAT difficulty is often already experienced in reconstituting vineyards 

 on suitable American stocks in soils poor in lime, but in case of soils rich 

 in lime the task to find the right American stock becomes all the more 

 difficult. 



As sometimes a considerable quantity of lime is found in the soils 

 of the Montagu, Robertson, and Worcester Districts, and as the recon- 

 stitution of the vineyards in these districts has now begun, I found it 

 desirable to gather samples of the different vineyard soils of these districts, 

 and to find out how much lime they contain. This has meanwhile been 

 done. Mr. A. J. Cloete, Supervisor Government Vine Plantations, and 

 Mr. J. C. van Jaarsveld, Manager of the Viticultural Station at Paarl, 

 helped me in collecting the samples, whilst the Assistant Viticulturist, 

 Mr. W. Wagener, carried out the analyses in the laboratory under 

 my supervision.. 



The lime was determined after Bernard's method. 



TAKING OF SAMPLES. 



A hole of 2 feet x 2 feet square was dug, its sides being kept vertical 

 to a depth of 1 foot. After putting this loose soil on one side, even thin 

 slices of soil all round the sides of the hole were cut down. This soil was 

 then well mixed, and about 15 ft. thereof put in a small bag, to which 

 a label was attached, indicating the particulars. 



In one corner of the hole a smaller hole was made to a depth of 30 

 inches, i.e. to a total depth of 18 inches, measured from the bottom of the 

 larger hole. Then in the same way as described above a sample was 

 taken at the depth of 12-30 inches. 



The numbers with " a " indicate the top samples, and those with 

 " b " the lower. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



The dry soils were pulverized and passed through a sieve of small 

 meshes. The particles of soil that did not pass through the sieve were 

 further pulverized, etc. Only some odd quartzitic pebbles were thrown 

 away. This was done to enable one to determine the total contents of 

 lime in the soil, as this is usually considerably greater than that in the 

 fine soil. 



In the following table the results obtained in the above manner are 



8iv "' 



