Choice of a Situation for a Vineyard. 15 



owing to the mere presence of water, for many of the streams 

 are of moderate size. There are other concomitant circum- 

 stances which must exert a happy influence : near the streams, 

 there are often terraces of warm and gravelly soils ; the land 

 is nearer the level of the sea, and may be sheltered by ranges 

 of high mountains ; on the sides of the valleys, advantage is 

 often taken of favoring exposure to the more direct rays of 

 the sun, and the surrounding hights may afford both reflected 

 heat and shelter. But beside all this, the general level of the 

 country, in a large portion of the grape region of Northern 

 Europe, lies at such an elevation as to be too cold for the suc- 

 cessful cultivation of the vine ; the mean temperature of the 

 summer months is too low ; while, in the favored spots just 

 indicated, the requisite conditions for the vine are found. In 

 this country, we have not generally the same differences of 

 elevation between the rivers and the uplands, so as to make a 

 marked change in the temperature, but, on the other hand, 

 we have an obnoxious element arising from such situations 

 adjacent to the streams. This is the occurrence of fogs, 

 which are oftentimes disastrous to the welfare of the grape, 

 when occurring at midsummer. These fogs, and an excessive 

 rain-fall, alternating with periods when the atmosphere is very 

 dry, are exceedingly injurious to the vine in the vicinity of 

 some of our rivers. 



The influence of the lakes, however, has proved to be 

 exceedingly valuable, in so modifying the climate, both in 

 winter and summer, as to enable us to cultivate the vine in 

 latitudes which were formerly considered too high for it — as 

 in northern Ohio, and all along the southern shore of Lake 

 Erie, and portions of that of Lake Ontario, as well as in the 

 vicinity of some of the lakes of New York State. The ob- 

 servations made upon Lake Erie will demonstrate this, and 

 explain the phenomenon. In the spring, the waters are chilled 

 by the supplies from the upper lakes, and thus retard vegetar 



