—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.