his business.

_Tillage methods._

There are several reliable guides indicating when the vineyard needs
to be tilled. The vineyardist who is but a casual observer of the
relation of vineyard operations to the life events and the welfare of
his vines will take the crop of weeds as his guide. It is, of course,
necessary to keep down the weeds, but the man who waits until weeds
force him to till will make a poor showing in his vineyard. The
amount of moisture in the soil is a better guide. The chief function
of tillage is to save moisture by checking evaporation and to put the
soil in such condition that its water-holding capacity is increased.
The physical condition of the land is another guide. Tilling when the
soil needs pulverizing furnishes a greater feeding surface for the
roots.

Tillage begins with plowing in early spring. Whether provided with a
cover-crop to be turned under or hard and bare, the land must be
broken each spring with the plow. Plowing is best done by running a
single furrow with a one-horse plow up to or away from the vines as
occasion calls and then following with a two-horse or a gang-plow.
Some growers use a disc harrow instead of the plow to break the land
in the spring, but this is a doubtful procedure in most vineyards and
is impossible when a heavy green-crop covers the land. Tillage with
harrow, cultivator, weeder or roller then proceeds at such intervals
as conditions demand, seldom less than once a fortnight, until time to
sow the cover-crop in midsummer. About the time grapes blossom, the
grape-hoe should be used to level down the furrow turned up to the
vines in the spring plowing. Tillage should always follow a heavy rain
to prevent the formation of a soil crust, this being a time when he
who tills quickly tills twice. The number of times a vineyard should
be tilled depends on the soil and the season. Ten times over with the
cultivator in one vineyard or season may not be as effective as _five_
times in another vineyard or another season. In some regions, as in
New York, the grower is so often at the mercy of wet weather in early
spring that the plowing is best done in the fall, and spring
operations must then open with harrowing with some tool that will
break the land thoroughly.

The depth to till is governed by the nature of the soil and the
season. Heavy soils need deep tilling; light soils, shallow tilling;
in wet weather, till deeply; in dry weather, lightly. Grape roots are