196 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
\ 
PLANTING AND MANAGEMENT OF A VINEYARD, 
ADAPTED TO WISCONSIN. 
Prize Essay. 
BY C. H. GREENMAN, MILTON. 
The practical cultivators of grapes in Wisconsin very soon 
found that the accepted mode of managing a vineyard in the 
southern and middle states was not adapted to general use 
here. This, in the main, is owing to the variableness of our 
climate. Our mean temperature, for the four months com¬ 
mencing with June and ending with September, correspond^ 
with that of the latitude of Baltimore, and from this fact the 
uninitiated would readily suppose that grapes could be grown 
here the same as there; but on the other hand, the mean tem¬ 
perature of our winter months is nearly the same as that of 
Montreal, and in consequence the Baltimore system of culture 
will not answer for us. We must modify it so as to secure 
that protection to our vines which will enable them to endure 
a degree of cold equal to that of the latitude of Montreal. 
This necessitates more or less change in the whole system of 
culture ; it makes it necessary to choose soil and location, to 
select varieties, to regulate the trimming and pruning, all with 
reference to the needed winter protection. 
In locating the vineyard, the first thing to be considered is 
the character of the soil, for this has an important bearing 
upon the amount and efficiency of the protection needed and 
given. In sandy and gravelly loam, there is often a lack of 
moisture in the soil to supply the wants of the roots during the 
winter months. When in autumn the rainfall is much below 
the average, and the ground freezes up comparatively dry, the 
