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CULTIVATION of the VINE 



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195 



Ju the Spring of the year, as foon as the ground is dry, 

 let it be "well harrowed both ways, with a fliarp iron tooth 

 harrow laid down fmooth and even; and take this caution 

 along with you, which I now give once for all, never to- 

 meddle with the ground of your vineyard v/hen it is wet,. 

 or even moift at top, nay, I would have you avoid as muclv 

 as poffible, walking in at fuch a time. Your own expe- 

 rience will foon teach you, the reafon of this caution. For 

 you will find, that the lighter and more open and loofe 

 the foil of a vineyard is kept, the more the vines will llou- 

 rifli, and the more fruitful they will prove. 



When your ground is in proper order, provide a fmalf 

 flake of four feet longfor every vine; and begin to layout 

 your vineyard in the mod regular manner the nature and 

 Ihapc of the ground will admit of. If you mean to plough 

 and harrow your vineyard, with a fmall iingle horfe 

 plough and a fmall corn harrow, you mufl leave a border 

 of ten or twelve feet on each fide of every fquare, to turn 

 your horfe upon, leaft he tramples upon and deftroys the 

 Gutfrdc vines. There will be no need of fuch borders alon^* 

 the upper or lower fide of the fq^uares, unlefs you choofe 

 it for regularity's fake; becaufeyour vineyard Ihould ne- 

 ver be ploughed up and down hill, but tranfverfely, unlefs 

 you mean to have it gullied, and the rich foil waflied- 

 away by hard rains, 



Thefollowingmethodof laying out a vineyard, 1 think 

 is as eafy, as regular and as expeditious as any, for a long 

 fquare or a four fquare piece of ground. Your fquarcs 

 being laid out, and having concluded how far your vines 

 ihall ftand every way from one 



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length, and flitch fmall pieces of red, blue, green, or any 

 other coloured cloth at fuch diftance from each other a.s 

 you mean to plant your vines. 1 will fuppofe eight feet, 

 becaufe upon the moft mature deliberation, I think that 

 the bell diftance for vines to ftand at in this couiitrv, as I 

 fluall afterwards fliew more fully, • 



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