PLOWING AND CULTIVATION.
Winter Plowing.
—The plowing and cultivation of a vineyard comprise different operations, both in the spring, winter and summer. Winter plowing should begin as soon as the vines are pruned, and should be finished before the buds begin to swell in the spring. The plowing should begin with a large plow and two horses, and the soil should be thrown from the vines towards the center of the land between them. As such a large plow cannot go too near the vines without breaking branches and injuring the buds, a smaller single-horse plow is used to follow after the double team, and to finish up by plowing a furrow nearest to the vines. The depth of this plowing should, if possible, be from six to eight inches in the center of the row, and from four to six inches nearest to the vines.
Vineyard Double Plow.
Plowing Devices.
—To enable the single plow to run as closely to the vines as possible without injury to the vines, several devices are used. The block device consists of inserting a block of wood two inches wide between the center of the clevis and the plow-beam. This throws the singletree out to one side and enables the horse to walk at a distance from the vine, while the plow follows as close to the latter as possible. In combination with this block, the singletrees should be so constructed as not to catch the branches of the vines. This is best accomplished by attaching to the outside end of the singletree a flat, doubled leather strap, to which is fixed a common, large snap, in which latter the traces of the harness are fixed. Such a singletree will glide by the branches without giving them a chance to catch anywhere. Similar singletrees, or even doubletrees, should be used wherever vineyard work is to be done, and they have the double advantage of being cheap, practical and easily made by any farmhand handy with tools.
Cultivation.
—The cultivation should always follow the plowing immediately, so as to prevent the soil from baking, and so as to tear up the roots of the weeds which have been partially dislodged. The first cultivation, which should always be in the same direction as the plowing, should be followed by cross-cultivation. The latter brings the soil back towards the vines, filling up the hollow formed by the throwing of the soil from the vines.
Raisin Vineyard Diamond-tooth Cultivator.
Back-furrowing.
—Later on, when the weeds have to some extent decayed, a double-shovel plow is by some growers used for turning a part of the soil back towards the vines. One round of this plow on each side of the vines is all that is required, as the repeated cultivation that should be carried on in a vineyard will generally suffice to bring the balance of the soil back from the center of the land towards the vines.
Cross-plowing.
—Cross-plowing is not absolutely needed, and in many places not even possible, as where the vines are planted closer one way than the other. But wherever plowing can be done both ways, the land will be benefited by being plowed one way one year and the other way the next year, so that in course of time all the soil will be regularly broken up. When there is plenty of time and enough labor, cross-plowing the same season will greatly benefit the vines.
Weed-cutters.
—These are used to great advantage after the first plowing, and any cultivator may be rigged with one of them, or they may be made as separate tools. The cutter-bar is simply a flat bar, which is bent in the shape of a very wide U, and is fastened to the beams of the cultivator just behind the last shovels or blades. The horizontal part of this cutter-knife should be on the same level as the center of the cultivator blades, and stand as horizontal as possible, in order to be subjected to the least amount of friction. The effect of such cultivator cutters are that no growing weeds are left behind wherever they pass.
Cutter-sled.
—I have used with great advantage a combination of this cutter-knife and a sled, upon which the driver could stand and ride, and its use saved time, besides doing the required work well. Such a cutter-sled is, however, only useful in already well plowed and cultivated soil, and for summer work it is just the thing and can then not be surpassed by any other weed-cutting tool which I have ever seen used.
Raisin Vineyard Weed-cutter.
Various other tools are used, and different ones at that in each separate district. Each grower has his particular way to cultivate and plow, and not two vineyardists do the work alike. Each one has his favorite tools and instruments, which he often changes from year to year or replaces by new inventions of local mechanics or inventors. A description of these tools and the various methods of plowing, cultivating and bringing the land in proper condition would make a book of itself and would be merely a history of each individual vineyard in the land. An enumeration of them will be found later on.
The cultivation of the vineyard should be continued as long as it can be done without causing injury to the new growth of the vines. The exact number of times the vines should be cultivated is impossible to decide upon beforehand, as almost every vineyard requires a different method of working. It is safe to say that during the summer no weeds should be allowed to grow in the vineyard, and, as long as any of them are left, the soil should, if possible, be cultivated. Every weed acts like a chimney for the moisture in the soil, which it sucks out to the detriment of the vine, while weeds which grow in among the branches of the vines will also seriously interfere with the picking of the grapes.
Riverside: City, Orchards and Vineyards.
Hoeing.
—Only little manual cultivation is needed. In the spring, after the first plowing and before the buds have started or have grown long enough to interfere with the work, the vines should be hoed. The object of hoeing is to loosen the soil nearest the vines, and to destroy all the weeds which cannot be turned under by the plow, and especially those which grow close to the vines. The best tool for this purpose is the common, heavy hoe with a long handle. A very useful hoe can be made of old shovels which are so worn and broken that they cannot be longer used for digging. The blade of the shovel is fixed to a new handle at a right angle, similar to a hoe handle, while the blade itself is left as it is. Such hoes are very useful in cutting heavy weeds, and work with great facility. Forked hoes are used by many vineyardmen, especially for stirring the hardened crust around the vine, but I believe the common, heavy hoe a more useful instrument, and if used in time will make the forked hoe unnecessary.
Time for Cultivation.
—Too early plowing or cultivation before the weeds have started is not always desirable, as it prevents the weeds from growing. Such weeds, if turned under, will yearly enrich the land, and in course of time form a heavy and humus-rich top soil, which will serve to keep the moisture in the soil below. I therefore advocate plowing as late as possible. The exact time must be decided for every particular season and for every separate locality, and no general rule can be given. Wet lands should be plowed earlier than dry lands; it is the latter which especially require the green weeds to be turned under, and which will be the most benefited by the accumulation of humus. Our vineyardists disregard this fact too much, and are generally too apt to plow their dryest lands first.