98 THE GRAPE IN KANSAS. 



The ideal soil is a reddish, sandy loam, with a reddish clay subsoil, porous 

 enough and deep enough to absorb the heaviest rains without becoming boggy or 

 seepy. Such soils and locations are less invaded by the mildews and rots so dis- 

 astrous to vineyards in low, damp, heavy lands, and are far less subject to killing 

 by late frosts. 



But no one need be without good table and market grapes, even if his soil is 

 heavy and damp ; for a little drainage, subsoiling and fertilizing will largely cor- 

 rect what nature has failed to do. 



Next to the red and chocolate sandy soils come the black, sandy soils on red 

 or yellow clay. The poorest are the low, blue, livery soils, that are seepy in wet 

 and hard as a bone in dry weather. But the black, waxy and adobe soils, in 

 good sites, planted to some varieties, give good results. 



Having chosen the site, the soil should be thoroughly prepared. Failure to 

 do this will cause many sad crops of disappointment to be gathered. 



The land, if beset with stumps and rocks, should have them all dug out to a 

 depth below where the plow will reach. When the land is free to be worked at 

 your will by the plow in all its parts to at least two feet in depth, lay off the 

 rows preferably running from northeast to southwest, if the land will permit; 

 then plow in narrow lands the width that the rows are to be apart. I have 

 found nine feet from row to row the most desirable width, so a wagon can be 

 driven between. Begin plowing each land midway between where the rows are 

 to stand, and backfurrow to this center,, following the first plow with an- 

 other, preferably a subsoil plow, as deeply as a heavy team can draw it, remem- 

 bering that never, after the vines have once filled the soil with their roots, can 

 deep plowing be done in the vineyard during its life without great damage. In 

 finishing each land, go an extra round or two in the dead furrow, throwing 

 out as deeply as possible, not less than two feet three will be better. Then let 

 the land lie awhile to receive ameliorating influences of weather. 



If the land is at all heavy or seepy or poor, the dead furrow should have 

 placed along its bottom, three or four inches in depth, poles and brush, lying 

 close down lengthwise, with crushed bones and leaf-mold from the woods inter- 

 mingled. When ready to plant, begin at the dead furrow with a broad, heavy 

 turning-plow, and turn the land back over the poles, bones, etc., until the soil is 

 two feet deep over the poles, and the final dead furrow, which need not be opened 

 very deep, is midway between where the rows are to be set. A cross-section of 

 the lands thus prepared would present somethiag of the appearance of the illus- 

 tration shown herewith. 



a, a, Brush, bones, leaf-mold, etc. 



A vineyard planted on land thus prepared, and of varieties adapted to the 

 climate, should, with proper care, live 50 to 100 years under profitable bearing. 



SETTING THE VINES. 



Strong, healthy one- or two-year-old plants never older, unless to save rare 

 varieties should be used. 



