494 ReporT OF THE HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT OF THE 
moisture, and cooler. Grapes prefer a light friable soil to one 
more compact. Lightness and friability can be increased by 
cultivation and sub-soiling or by the use of cover crops and 
stable manures. A suitable condition of the soil should precede 
the planting of a vineyard. 
The preference which a number of varieties show for sands, 
loams, shales and gravels depends largely upon the heat found 
in such soils. The farther north, or the longer the season re- 
quired for ripening, the greater becomes the necessity for a 
warm soil. Soil heat can be influenced by drainage, by the 
addition of humus, or by cultivation. The grape is no more 
exacting as to soil requirements than other fruits, but the 
necessity of selecting a suitable soil, coupled with favorable 
climatic conditions for its commercial culture, needs no 
stronger argument than the fact that in New York we have 
the viticulture of the State centered in four comparatively 
small districts, while commercial success with the grape ap- 
pears to be impossible on much larger areas which produce 
good crops of other products, even fruits, 
Insects and fungi.— Since the advent of spraying and a 
more accurate knowledge of the life cycles of insects and fungi, 
their ravages have become more and more within the control of 
man and their influence upon grape-growing of less impor- 
tance, and there are some favored vineyards in which neither 
insects nor fungi are troublesome. Nevertheless, instances 
where promising viticultural ventures have been wiped out of 
existence, or survive only as a result of constant and expensive 
combative measures, still place insects and fungi as factors 
requiring careful consideration. 
GRAPE DISTRICTS OF NEW YORK STATE. 
THE CHAUTAUQUA DISTRICT. 
The Chautauqua grape belt extends along the southeastern 
shore of Lake Erie, averaging about three miles in width, and 
is about fifty miles long. It les in Erie and Chautauqua 
counties; its northeastern boundary is not far from the Erie- 
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