SOIL AND SITUATION. 93 



it will be more likely to be in a condition to transmit 

 moisture rapidly, but not to hold a superabundance. 



Drains are usually placed from 20 to 40 feet apart, and 

 three to four feet deep, according to soils, situation, and the 

 crop to be grown on the land. For vines, the drains should 

 be placed deeper than for ordinary farm crops, else the roots 

 will soon penetrate to and fill them. To describe the differ- 

 ent kinds of materials used in draining lands, as well as the 

 manner of laying, cost, etc., would occupy too much of our 

 space, 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 in- 

 verted, 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 consequently 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, without 

 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 portion of the 

 field, the trench last made may be filled up from the ad- 

 joining soil without injuring its looks. It does not mat- 



