Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-12-27

taken up by the soil during rain,
and every favorable condition to
get all the warmth the sunshine
can furnish has to be taken adv6n-
tage Of; whilst here, If grapes are
not ripe in September they can
hang on the vine until December.
WHAT KIND OF SOIL is THE MOST
SUITABLE.
Life has as yet been too short to
speak about this subject with GER
tainty, and in century from now
opinions will still have to be modi-
fed. My experience is confined to
my immediate neighborhood; and,
even in this limited space, there
have been trials only to limited
extent, for soil that may suit one
grape may be entirely unfit for an
other. There are, however, some
general facts that are safe to accept.
A finely divided sandy soil will alb
sorb water readily and is easily
worked. 1t will, too, retain water
in summer much better than adobe
or clay, or o coarse, porous soil.
Adobe and clay soils are good for
the raising of such crops as grow in
the winter, like grasses, wheat,
barley and oats; sandy soils, on the
other hand, are adapted for sum-
mer growing products like corn,
melons, pumpkins, fruit trees,
grape vines, aud not suited to
grasses. The first, in summer, with
heat, shrinks and cracks. It is in
favorable condition to evaporate
its water easily; for solid, hard
earth will sooner lose its water
than soft, mellow, surface, as can
be seen by our roads, which always
dry up sU1u4r tuau the land on
either side. The condition of its
capillary attraction, by the spaces
between the particles of its soil be.
ing close together, are favorable
for drawing the water in warm
weather out of its soil; whereas a
sandy soil, by its poroslty, has less
capillary power to draw the water
to the surface and more capacity
to take up air in day time which,
by the cold at night, is
condensed into water, when more
air is again taken up, to go through
the same changes. Man can do
much to assist in retaining water
in soil by Notwithstanding
the soil. Even q very light soil
will, by rains, dew, gravitation, and
other forces of nature, continually
form a crust on top, harden,
presenting favorable conditions for
rain and also for evapora-
tion. BY plowing this is counter
acted, and the oftener this is done
the more moisture will be retained
and added, by giving free ingress
to the air and cutting off evapora-
ton; for loose soil, il only few
inches on top, acts as a mulch. 1t
cuts off communication with the
lower strata of soil; it acts like
lamp that has its wick severed
above the oil; it stops capillary
with that below. Such
o sell can be easily kept in such
by cultivating, say, once
"A month, with a minimum of la
boz; hut an adobe or clay soil is
very difficult to work; it breaks up
in olods, giving more surface for
wind aud sun to act upon aud dry;
and, if broken up by beating the
clods, makes an almost endless
task, for the first rain to pack to-
gether again. Cultivation should
be continued during the entire
Summer. The ground may be en-
tirely without moisture on the sur
face; it may be dry to such depth
that weeds do not sprout any more,
and every object apparently want
ing for stirring the ground, yet you
will find that your grape vines
will show by their renewed vigor
and growth after cultivation, that
it has not been labor lost. OF
course this continued cultivation is
only possible in vineyards the first
and second years OF their growth.
When older, they early in the
season cover the ground so that no
horse can get through them, and,
by shading the ground, they pre-
vent much of the evaporation and
stop weed growth; but, even with
old vines, cultivation should be
kept up as losig as possible.
Cultivation should, too, be thor
ough and continued AS long as any
weeds make their appearance, for
all growth is at the expense of wa
ter. Grass or weeds, while making
an earlier growth, take up the wa
ter in your soil by their roots and
it by their leaves more
than your vines, for they |
run through to their maturity ear
lier, and many of them evaporate
and use more water. AT any rate,
whatever you allow them to appro-
pirate from your soil is lost to the
grape. More anon. l. J. ROSE.
L.. a Il