Vineyards are usually some distance above the water, the range in altitude running from fifty to five hundred feet. Where the altitude is much higher, immunity to frosts and winter freezing ceases, for the reason that the atmosphere is rarer and drier so that heat radiates rapidly from the land. As the height increases, also, the revels of the wind play havoc with the vines. Yet, one is often surprised to find good vineyards at the level of the lakes or, on the other hand, crowning high hills. Altitude in grape-growing must, therefore, be determined by experiment. We know very little of the formation of the thermal belts on high land so favorable to the grape. _The lay of the land._ We associate the grape with rugged land; as the vines on the banks of the Rhine, the rolling lands of Burgundy, the slopes of Vesuvius and Olympus, the high hills of Madeira, the cloud-capped mountains of Teneriffe, mountain slopes in California and the escarpments of grape regions in eastern America. These examples prove how well adapted rolling lands, inclined plains and even steep and rocky hillsides are to the culture of the vine. Virgil long ago wrote, "Bacchus is partial to broad, sunny hills." Yet rolling lands are not essential to the culture of the grape, for in Europe and America very good grapes are grown on unsheltered plains, provided the land has an elevation on one or more boundaries above the surrounding country. If the conditions of soil and climate which the grape requires can be found on level land or moderate slopes, such situations are much better than steep declivities, since on these the cost of all vineyard operations is greater and heavy rains erode the soil. The soil on hills, too, is often scant and niggardly. Level land, however, must not be shut in on all sides by higher land as untimely frost will often lay waste vines in such a situation. _Exposures._