COMMUNICATIONS—GRAPE CULTURE. 
363 
larger and more abundant. Good deep plowing, with 
thorough cross plowing, and, if the ground is rough, well 
harrowed and rolled, is, with the straw mulching, just as 
efficient, and vastly cheaper than deep subsoiling by hand or 
other means, I have tried both, with the other treatment 
similar, and from my limited means of observation I have no 
doubt the plan suggested above is equal at least to the deepest 
subsoiling. My vines, planted on the plowed soil are doing 
much better than on another piece adjoining where I spaded 
two feet deep, but as the vines are some closer on the latter, 
and the experiment is on so small a scale (150 vines on the 
subsoiled, and 1,000 on the plowed portion) I do not feel at 
liberty to wholly charge the better appearance and fuller fruit 
to the difference in the treatment of the soil. 
Now, as the main objection to the planting of vineyards in 
this latitude lies in the extra cost of winter protection, sum¬ 
mer tillage and pruning, I will address myself particularly to 
this branch of the subject. Farmers care more for practical 
facts and logical deductions than for a fine display of glittering 
literary generalities. I shall therefore bid for popular atten¬ 
tion by offering some plain, and as I believe, practical facts 
and suggestions. And right here, at the threshold, let me chal¬ 
lenge the attention of those interested to the great point that all 
should know, that grape raising is not what nearly every man sup¬ 
poses, an occult art or mysterious secret only to be learned by the 
few at great cost and by laborious attention. On the contrary, 
it is one of the simplest problems in the Euclid of Agriculture. 
Let the beginner in grape culture keep this fact in mind and 
the great difficulty is overcome. Let him understand that no 
more skill or ingenuity is required to plant, rear and protect a 
grape vine than to grow a hill of potatoes, that no more trou¬ 
ble and expense need be incurred to take care of a grape vine 
than is required for a well tilled hill of beans, while the profits 
are immensely greater, and he may then be supposed to be in 
a frame of mind to listen to the plain lesson he is expected to 
learn. 
Without attempting to criticise or find fault with the many 
