The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-12

vineyards are loaded, but the cranes
Will not net more than / cent Der
pound on the vines, the purchaser do |
IhS the picking and carrying them to
market. one reason for this is the |
pig crop, and another is the fact that
the vine market is glutted owing to
the great supply held over from last
year caused by the hard times of the
Argentine. Still another cause is the
hard times brought about by the war |
AS it is now more than 100000
pounds of grapes are being shipped
10 Buenos Aires every day in q spe-
clal fruit train. This train has forty
ears, loaded with grapes fresh from
the vines. 1t is rushed right through
to the market. This shipment, how
ever, is nothing in comparison with
the vast quantities that are being
turned into wine. The A%rgentinians
are a wine-drinking nation. The ma
tlves are OF Spanish descent and are
accustomed to have win with their
meals. The immigrants, who have
come in by the millions, and who
form perhaps one-half of the popula-
ton, are mostly Italians and Span
lards, all Of whom drink wine every
day. All Of the small Italian farm
ers have their own wine supply, and
every enc who can afford it lays in a
number Of casks for his own use
every season.
The most Of these farmers buy
upon credit. as is the custom in many
parts OF our Southern States. They
pay their bills when the crops are
sold, and if there is q good yield in
prospect they have but little difficulty
III getting all they may want. That
is SO for food, seeds and farm imple-
ments. There is one thing, however,
that the merchants will not give
credit for. That is wine. The wine
is bought and sold for cash; and the
retailing is done on a cash basis.
Therefore if it is seen that the crops
are likely to be sh ort or that money
cannot easily be gotten, the wine sales
are cut down. Last year the wheat
crop was short. and now the war has
cut everything to the bone. The farm
2 ers cannot get credit and the wine
I market has 81 fallen off that the
! bodegaS or wine cellars are still hold.
ing tens of millions of gallons. The
present crop will greatly add to this
supply. All this causes the low price
of ! cent q pound on the vines.
$ ] wish / could show you a moving
5 picture of the vineyards that sur
I round the town Of Mendoza. The city
! is in the center of about a million
5 acres Of vineyards. The ~grapevines
. extend right up to the houses, and
e some enormous vineyards are sepa
r rated from the buildings only by mu6
: walls that are four OF five feet in
height. There are railroads which &c
8 out through the vineyards, and 20,
can take he belt-line and ride fol
miles around the city, going through
nothing but grapevines all the way.
In fact, this is the best way to Sc.
the magnitude of the industry.
took the train this morning and wa
about tive hours on the way. Their,
were vineyards on both sides of tn
it track as far as l could see. The vine
are set out in regular order, and
n could look for half a mile or NOR
n down the black earth between then
e Each row has it's canal, and in som
IF places the water is conducted abOu
II the roots of the vines. In others
runs through the middle of the row
it The vines are cut back every yea
% just as in France, and an old vine
w yard in, bearing is not higher than
10 mans waist. It's vines are traine
~ upon wires, tackled to rough posts
and from h wires the grapes han
10 down in great clusters. [ saw vim
n yards of Il thousand acres, the grape
"a Of which were all white, and Othe
ID tracts equally large where the crap
IA were dark blue or purple. Almost a
th were quite as big as damson plum
I'D some single punches weighing foU
IN or five pounds.
~, The trimming Of these vineyard
70 is so carefully lone that the who
40 looks like an ornamental garden, an
,s the fruit is SO cultivated that not
or weed is anywhere to be seen. III
C. labor is mainly Chilean and Argentir
nc ians, although there are many lta
ians and Spaniards who come in
aid in harvesting the crop. The VIII
grapes are left on until they are dea
nd ripe, in which condition they are
on their sweetest, and are just ready
cL be turned into wine.
u
lg; Riding through the vineyards [ sa
ne many or the large WlIe-IIldkllS Z
ng Establishments. Nearly all OF the
or have estates of their own, but tn
ar. also buy the grapes Of the vinegar
Ids lists near them. These es~tablishmen
nd are Known as bodegas. Some of the
re, are Of vast extent, the pulluinsS CO
or;,1 ocroc Others are small, but