Location.—For vineyards, the sides of hills are usually chosen, sometimes for the purpose of a warm exposure, but generally to secure the most perfect drainage. A northern exposure is preferable for all varieties adapted to the climate. To mature late varieties, choose a southern or eastern exposure.
Soil.—Gravelly, with a little sand, on a dry subsoil, is preferable, though good grapes may be grown upon any land upon which water will not stand. Grapes always need much lime. If the vineyard is not located on calcareous soil, lime must be liberally supplied, especially for wine-making. A dry subsoil, or thorough draining, is indispensable to successful grape-culture. We prefer level land, wherever thorough draining is practicable.
Propagation.—Choice grapes are propagated by grafts, layers, or cuttings. New ones are produced from seeds. The more kinds that are cultivated together, the greater will be the varieties raised from their seeds, by cross-fertilization in the blossoms. A small grape crossed with a large one, or an early with a late one, or two of different flavors, will produce mediums between them. Seeds should be cleaned, and planted in the fall, or kept in sand till spring. In the fall, cover up the young vines. The second or third year, the young vines should be set in the places where they are designed to remain. By efforts to get new varieties, we may adapt them to every latitude, from the gulf of Mexico to Pembina.
Layers.—These produce large vines and abundance of fruit earlier than any other method of propagation. Put down old wood in May or early June, and new wood a month later; fasten down with pegs having a hook to hold the vine, and cover up with earth; they will take root freely at the joints, and may be removed in autumn or spring. If you put down wood too late, or do not keep it covered with moist earth, it will fail; otherwise it is always sure.
Cuttings—may be from any wood you have to spare, and should be about a foot long, having two buds. Plant at an angle of forty-five degrees, one bud and two thirds of the cutting under the soil. A little shade and moisture will cause nearly all to grow. A little grafting-wax on the top will aid the growth, by preventing evaporation. The cutting, so buried as to have the top bud half an inch under fine mould, is said to be surer. Cuttings should be made late in fall, or early in winter, and preserved as scions for grafting. Cuttings made in the spring are less sure to grow, and their removal is much more injurious to the vine. Vines raised from cuttings may be transplanted when one or two years old.
Grafting—should be performed after the leaves are well developed in the spring. The sap becomes thick, which aids the process. Remove the earth, and saw off the vine two or three inches below the surface. Graft with scions of the previous year's growth, but well matured, and apply cement, to keep the sap from coming out. Cover all but the top bud. In stocks an inch in diameter put two scions. Very few need fail.
Budding—maybe done as in other cases, but always after the leaves are well developed, to avoid bleeding. These modes of propagation stand in the following order in point of preference, the best being named first: layers, cuttings, grafting, budding.
Culture and Manure.—Land prepared by deep subsoil plowing, highly manured and cultivated the previous season in a root-crop, is the best for a vineyard. The trenches for the rows should be spaded twenty inches deep, and a part of the surface-soil put in the bottom. After planting the vines, stir the ground often and keep clear of weeds. At first, stir the soil deep; but, as the roots extend, avoid working among them, and never disturb the roots with a plow. Mulching preserves the soil in a moist, loose condition, and is a good preventive of mildew. In many instances it is said to have doubled the crop. Common animal-manures are good for young vines, and in preparing the soil, but are rather too stimulating for bearing vines, often injuring the fruit. Ashes and cinders from the smith's forge, wood-ashes, charcoal, soapsuds, bones and bonedust, lime, and forest and grape leaves and trimmings, carefully dug into the soil around the vines, are all very good. A liberal supply of suitable manures will keep the vines in a healthy condition, and preserve the fruit from disease and decay. This, with judicious pruning, will render the grape-crop regular and sure.
Vineyards—should be in rows five feet apart, with vines four feet apart in the row. Layers of one, and cuttings of two years' growth, will bear the second year, and very plentifully the third year. A good vineyard in the latitude of Cincinnati yields about one hundred and fifty bushels of grapes per acre, making four hundred gallons of wine. The average yield of wine per acre, throughout the country, is estimated at two hundred gallons.
Training under Glass.—By this means the fine foreign varieties may be brought to perfection in our high latitudes. With most of the best kinds, this can be done by solar heat alone. A house covered with glass at an angle of forty-five degrees, facing the south, will answer the purpose. With a slight artificial heat, the finest varieties may be perfected, and others forwarded, so as to have fine grapes at most seasons of the year. The vines are planted on the outside of the grapehouse, and allowed to pass in through an aperture two feet from the ground, and are trained up near the glass on the inside. Protect the roots in winter by a covering of coarse straw manure. Wind the vines on the inside with straw, lay them down on the ground in the grape-house, and keep it closed during the winter. A house one hundred feet long and twenty-five feet wide, filled mainly with Black Hamburg, with a few other choice varieties, would afford a great luxury, and prove a profitable investment. From one such house, near a large city, a careful cultivator may realize a thousand dollars per annum. Native and even hardy varieties are often greatly improved by cultivation under glass, or by a little protection in winter.