892 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



Lime, potash and phosphates, are the mineral consti- 

 tuents mostly required. Potash, freely applied, is thought 

 to improve the quality of the wine produced. 



For vineyard culture of the Catawba grape, the ground 

 should be subsoiled with a plow, or deeply trenched. A 

 declivity should be thrown into terraces, with a slight 

 inclination to the hill, that the water may be collected 

 there, to be carried thence to the main drains. The Ca- 

 tawba grape* is planted by the wine-growers on level 

 ground, in rows seven feet apart, and four feet in the row, 

 but on hill sides three by five feet apart. The vineyard 

 is laid off with a line and a stake put down where each vine 

 is to grow ; then a broad hole a foot deep is dug, in which 

 are placed two cuttings, six or eight inches apart, at the 

 bottom, in a slanting position," but with the top eyes only 

 about an inch apart, and even with the surface — throw in 

 a shovelful of well-decayed leaf mould, that the cuttings 

 may strike freely. Cover with an inch of charcoal dust or 

 light mould, when the cuttings are planted. The cuttings 

 should be short jointed and well ripened, each cutting con- 

 taining about four joints. Cut them off close to the lower 

 joint, and about an inch above the upper. The earth 

 should be pressed closely around the cuttings. The best 

 time for putting them out is the last of November or De- 

 I cember. The finest vines are raised from cuttings where 

 j they are to stand. Being undisturbed by removal, they 

 j are more thrifty and longlived. Remove all the cuttings 

 1 but one, if more than one succeeds, and use them to re- 

 / plant where others have failed. During the summer keep 

 I the ground clean and light by repeated hoeings, and pull 

 I off superfluous shoots, leaving but one or two to grow at 

 I first, and one eventually. Next spring cut the vine down 

 , to two buds — one of which remove when the vine shoots, 



* Bee Buchan on Grape Culture. 



