and opening the dormant leaves. Fall
planting puts forward the work, thus diminishing the rush of early
spring when vineyard operations crowd, and, no doubt, when all is
favorable, enables the vines to start a little more quickly. However,
there are frequently serious losses from planting in the fall. In cold
winters the grip of frost is sufficient to wrench the young vine from
its place and sometimes all but heaves it out of the soil. There is,
also, great liability of winter-killing in vines transplanted in the
autumn, not because of greater tenderness of the plant, but because of
greater porosity of the loosened soil which enables the cold to strike
to a greater depth. These two objections to fall planting can be
overcome largely by mounding up the earth so as practically to cover
the vines, leveling the mound in early spring; but this extra work
more than offsets the labor saving in fall planting.

In climates in which the soil does not freeze in the winter, the vines
may be set in the autumn if all is favorable. Often, however,
conditions are not favorable to fall planting in warm climates, since
autumn rains frequently soak the soil so that it cannot be placed
properly about the roots; and, moreover, in a cold, water-logged soil
the inactive roots begin to decay; or the soil may be too dry for fall
planting. Under such conditions, it is often better to delay planting
in warm climates until spring when better soil conditions can be
secured. Fall or spring, the soil should be reasonably dry, warm and
mellow when the work is done. The best time to plant must necessarily
vary from year to year, and the vineyardist must decide exactly when
to undertake planting in accordance with the conditions of soil and
weather, mindful that the Psalmist's injunction that there is "a time
to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted" is subject to
several conditions requiring judgment. The grape puts out its leaves
late in the spring, making the temptation great to delay planting;
late-set plants, however, need special care lest they suffer from the
summer droughts which annually parch the lands of this continent.

_The operation of planting._

All being in readiness, planting proceeds rapidly. A gang of four men
work to advantage. Two dig holes, a third holds the vines and tramps
the earth as the remaining man shovels in earth. Except in large
vineyards, four men are seldom available, and gangs of two or three
must di