SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
51 
Tar as a Disinfectant. — The editor of the Medina 
Gazette tells of a skunk being captured in a house by a 
dog, with the usual result of disgust to the victors. The 
terrible s^ent was neutralized by burning tar upon live 
coals of fire by which the air was purified as if by magic. 
If this kind of fumigation is a sure specific, it deserves to 
' be known and put upon record. 
GRAPE CUIiTURE IN THE SOUTH — NO. 3. 
\ 
\Continued from December number of Southern Cultivator.'] 
Preparation op the Land, Continued. — Since the 
publication of No. 1, the writer has received numerous let- 
ters on the subje.ct of Grape Culture, from all parts of the 
Southern States, and as the inquiries of his correspondents 
seem to be mainly directed to the cheapest and best method 
of preparing the soil for a vineyard, he will give his own 
experience and practice, and go a little more into detail. 
In the first place, then, it is absolutely necessary to have 
good tools in order to do work properly and economical- 
ly ; and as spade trenching is too laborious and expensive, 
we are necessarily obliged to adopt the plow. For all 
heavy work, heretofore, we have used the “Deep Sod 
Tiller” and “Rich’s Iron Beam” or “Washington” plow, 
but these and all others are now cast aside and entirely 
superseded by Utley’s Combined Subsoil and Turning 
Plow. With the assistance of one of our ingenious 
mecnanics (Mr. G. W. Cooper, of Ogeechee, Ga.,) we 
have made such alterations and improvements in 'this 
Plow, as adapt it especially to the preparation of land 
for vineyards and orchards, and we can confidently re 
commend it (in its improved form) as the very best Plow 
we have ever seen for deep tillage. With our present 
“means and appliances” for the preparation of land, then, 
we can very confidently lower the estimate of cost given 
in our previous number; and, as spade trenching cannot 
be adopted by the mass of Grape culturists, we give the 
following as ih^latest, cheapest, and iesimode of inaugur- 
ating the culture of the Vine in the South: 
Select a moderately sloping hili-side, with any exposure 
from east to south west — an old field is preferable, because 
more easily brought into cultivation — burn off all grass, 
weeds, broomstraw, &c., and carefully grub out all briars, 
roots and stumps that might offer the least obstruction to 
thet plow. With one of Utley’s large plows, (properly 
set for subsoiling and turning) a pair of strong mules, and 
a good plowman between the handles, you are ready to 
commence. In the first place, plow your land perpen- 
dicularly, up and down the hill, taking a very narrow 
furrow slice (say 8 inches) and running as deep as pos- 
sible. When you have plowed the land in this manner, 
close and deep, “turn your hand” and cross-plow the 
whole, horizontally, or across the hill, running again very 
narrow furrows, and as deep as possible. (Keep plenty 
of new plow points at hand, and change as often as tht- 
old ones become dull.) After you have thus plowed and 
cross-plowed, harrow carefully and closely, running 
around or across the hill. If the work has been properly 
perlormed, you will now find the whole of the land 
thoroughly stirred and broken to the depth of from 12 to 
15 inches, and you may then proceed to lay off your rows. 
A Level, such as is used in hill-side ditching, will be ofser- 
viceto you in this matter, but is not necessary. W e have al- 
ways been guided by the eye alone. Begin at the top of 
the hill, and lay off row after row at the proper distances, 
circling in crescent shape around the hill, as in the follow- 
ing diagram : 
HILL side. 
These rows may be indicated by long stakes (which are 
more conspicuous if freshly peeled,) and can be marked 
off by a steady hand, with a single mule and a shovel or 
turning plow. After they are marked off plainly, take 
the Utley Plow, as before, and run deeply either twice 
or four times in every row, backwards and forwards 
throwing out the earth both ways, and forming a trench 
18 to 20 inches deep. 
Planting. — Set short stakes or sticks along the edge of 
this trench, at the distances you intend planting, and let 
your hands pass along with their shovels, filling in a 
mound or dam of surface earth, a foot thick and level with 
the edges of the trench, at every stick. These mounds 
or banks of earth, that are formed in the trench, may be 
left moderately sloping in the direction of the trench, so 
that when the roots or cuttings are dropped in against 
them, they will lie at an angle of about 45 degrees. Let 
us endeavor to explain, by another diagram: 
trench. 
a a a a a a a 
The cross marks, a, a, &c , are intended to represent 
^the little mounds of sui’face soil that are filled in across 
the trench for the roots or cuttings to rest against. When 
the trenches are prepared in this manner, one hand places 
the roots or cuttings, leaning against these little mounds, 
at the proper depth, and another follows and covers them 
with the shovel, using surface soil from the edges of the 
trench. In planting cuttings, leave the top bud or eye 
just even with they surface, or is slightly covered with 
light soil, it will break through, and perhaps he less 
liable to injury from late spring frosts. In planting roots, 
ihe strongest shoot of the previous year must be retained 
and cut back to 2 or 3 good eyes, the lowest of these to be 
about one inch above the surface. When planting, it is 
not absolutely necessary to close or fill in the entire 
trench at once. Each root or cutting may be surrounded 
with a foot or two of earth, at first and the intermediate 
spaces, in the trench left open for a few days. If deemed 
advisable, a slight compost of leaf mould, ashes and bro- 
ken bones may be scattered in these spaces between the 
plants for^the future nourishment of the root, and the 
