The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-03-10

4
of our grape belt TO yield, in the mat
ter of profits, TO the vineyards on the
plateaus or tablelands. The only pos
sible advantage on the summit is the
greater immunity from frost in May,
which, if gained occasionally, is sew
eral times lost in the causes l have
mentioned. | would not disparage
the wine clad hills" They are far
more beautiful and much more profit
able with the grape vines than with
out them. But / do venture TO say
that there is not a successful grape
grower present to-day, who, if he were
selecting site for vineyard, would
give SIS an acre for a hillside-and |
am not saying steep one-it he
could get "high level" with good
soil, for 500 or $50.
There are many vineyards in this
township and in Antwerp that seldom
fail to produce a good paying crop.
There are many more fine locations
in all the townships surrounding that
are not set Some fields have been
set that perhaps might better be re-
set with timber to grow posts for more
favora BILE localities. Our pioneer Sc
lected a location which seems TO me
ideal. Let us take look at it. Go
! ing west from Paw Paw on either
road, you will notice gradual rise
for nearly six miles. On the town
line you reach the summit or divide.
| From this point the land slopes rapid
! ly to the west until il reaches the
river, from one TO three miles away.
On the east and just under the pro-
lection of the ridge you will find his
vineyard. Only mile to the north
is the Paw Paw river, broad river
bottom and a large tract of second
bottom land, together furnishing an
excellent system of "air drainage.
The best idea l can give you of the
elevation of this ridge is that, as you
look across the river and the low lands
from the highlands of Waverly or Ar
lington, the tallest trees on the river
bottom seem to reach about half way
up the grade. 1t must be more than
a hundred feet above the river. There
are a few vineyards west of the ridge,
vineyards on every farm; and one
failure in ten years is the record as
near as I can remember it. Similar
locations can be shown in different di-
rections from Paw Paw.
a man must have money to burr"
who sets grape vines on land where
potatoes and tomatoes axe frost-bitten
L.,
there is a mortgage big enough TO
cover it. In that case it may do TO
chance it a year or two until some
newcomer, having found that Malto-
Grape is better than Pabst's Best,
crawls under the mortgage, digs ont
the interest and saves the other fell
low the trouble. Then each fellow
buys a new plug hat and pair of
nose glasses and looks wise for the
next six months, while the pioneers"
are Saving wood
1t is a difficult and a we'll nigh
impossible thing to make good vine
yard from poor vines. / believe we
ought not to set them at any price.
The second year from setting, the re-
turns from good vines will be more
than enough more than from poor
ones TO pay the cost of number ones;
and the difference will go on increas-
| ing. The successful grower knows
what varieties pay him best and does
not spend much time or money in eX-
perimenting.
The young man with a level head,
while still in school, makes up his
mind what he wants to do and to be
and puts in his time and energy in
| that direction; while the boy who is
content TO do anything that turns up,
always finds that every good job has
a handle TO it which is pointing to-
wards some young man who has al
ready spit on his hands. So in
grape growing. If man wants a
vineyard he must know how to make
it, As Spurgeon said of the farmer:
''He who by the pillow would thrive,
must hold the pillow himself, or drive. "
! So if the owner does not know how to
prune a vine TO make it do its best, he
is at a disadvantage unless he can al
ways have the same foreman to rely
on. If he doesn't know himself the
difference between a fruitful cane and
barren one, he cannot blame or
teach an employe if he leaves the
wrong one.
Having a love for the business, a
soil on a good location where the at
mospheric conditions are favorable,
and the best vines that you can buy,
it is important how they are set.
believe 1Ox10 feet is the proper dis
lance. l think it safe and practical
to set with pillow, provided the pillow
is run Il or IL inches deep. / think
the best plan is TO turn a furrow each
way; then the rows will be uniform in
width. l would not set a crooked row,
for there are men who can mark
straight and the difference in the ex-
pense is not worth considering And
anything that shall speak Of our
handiwork to every passerby and
would e-purchaser in the years, the
decades, the generations, and it may
be the centuries TO come, as does the
q etraicrht row the Croo1yod ono e