—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.