The vines can be put down at any time after the leaves drop and before the earth begins to freeze. It is more important that the vines be taken up at the proper time in the spring. If uncovered too early and cold weather follows, injury may result and more harm be done than if the vines had not been covered. On the other hand, if the earth is permitted to remain too long, foliage and vine are tender both to sunshine and frost. A grape-grower in New York who has had much experience in laying down vines in a vineyard of some thirty or forty acres says that the work may be done at a cost of $6 an acre at the average wage paid for farm-labor. It must be expected in a large plantation, no matter how well the work of covering is done, that occasionally a trunk will be broken, making it necessary to graft the vine if a shoot does not spring up from below the break. RIPENING DATES AND LENGTH OF SEASON FOR GRAPES Every grape-grower should know when his varieties may be expected to ripen and the length of season that they will keep. The commercial fruit-grower by all means should have this information. It is not sufficient that he know only roughly at what season his varieties ripen; for, to take the turn of the market, he must know exactly when a variety will ripen and how long it will keep. He needs this information, also, that he may distribute his labor better throughout the picking season. Unfortunately, the data as to ripening time given by originators and introducers of varieties are not always reliable. This untrustworthiness of data is readily accounted for in several ways: First, growers do not generally agree as to when grapes are ripe nor as to how long they are fit to eat. Again, much confusion as to when varieties ripen and how long they will keep arises from the fact that grapes ripen at different times in different places, and it is difficult for the grape-grower in Maine to make allowance in season for varieties, the time of ripening of which is given for Maryland. There are also other causes than the seasonal differences in grape regions for variability in ripening time; thus, some soils are warmer and quicker than others, and on these grapes ripen earlier. Application of nitrogenous fertilizers may delay the period of ripening somewhat. Grapes ripen perceptibly earlier on old plants than on young ones. Lastly, every vineyard in a particular region has its own particular climate caused by the lay of land, nearness to water, air currents and altitude which cause small differences in ripening.