Читать книгу Manual of American Grape-Growing - U. P. Hedrick - Страница 87

It is impossible to put too much emphasis on the necessity of thorough preparation of the land before planting the grape. Extra expenditure to secure good tilth is amply repaid by increased growth in the grape, and all subsequent care may fail to start the vines in vigorous growth if the land is not in good tilth preparatory to planting. The vineyard is to stand a generation or more, and its soil is virtually immortal, two facts to suggest perfect preparation. The land should be thoroughly well plowed, harrowed, mixed and smoothed. The better this work is done, the greater the potentialities of the vineyard. Here, indeed, is a time to be mindful of the adage which comes from Cato, a sturdy old Roman grape-grower of 2000 years ago: "The face of the master is good for the land."

Preparation is a series of operations in which it is wise to take advantage of time and begin a year before the vines are to be set. The land must be put in training to fit it for the long service it is to render. The two great essentials of preparation are provision for drainage and thorough cultivation. Both, to be performed as the well-being of the grape require, take time, and a year is none too short a period in which to do the work. Moreover, newly drained and deeply plowed land requires time for frost, air, sunshine and rain to sweeten and enliven the soil after the mixture by these operations of live topsoil with inert subsoil.