1.6 Answer the questions to the text.

1. What is a vineyard?

2. What site is ideal for grape growing?

3. What nutrients are essential to the health of vines?

4. What grape species do you know? Which of them is used for jelly and jam?

1.7 Match the words with the definitions:

1. hill	a) the chemical activity in your body that uses food to produce the energy you need to work and grow
2. essential	b) strong and very healthy
3. wine	c) an area of land that is higher than the land around it, like a mountain but smaller
4. metabolism	d) an alcoholic drink made from grapes
5. vigorous	e) extremely important and necessary in order to do something correctly or successfully

Part 2

1.1 Read the following words, paying attention to the pronunciation: favorable, equipment, vigor, beneficial, insure, emphasis, particular, mechanical, judge, occupy, determine, saline, frequently, uniformly.

1.2 Translate the following word-combinations into Russian: Grape varieties, wine production, root system, grape quality, grape roots, soil management, cover crop, soil texture, high organic matter content, processed grapes, hand-picked berries, plant growth.

1.3 Find all the international words in the text and translate them into Russian.

1.4 Read and translate the text with the help of a dictionary.

Growing grapes is one of the oldest cultural practices. It is relatively easy to propagate grapes, but it requires attention to detail. Grapes may be propagated by hardwood cuttings taken during late winter and stored in a cool place. They should be 10 or 12 inches long, and about the diameter of a pencil with about three buds on each cutting. In early spring, before growth starts, they should be lined out in the nursery so only the top bud extends above the soil. Care should be taken to prevent their drying out; other than that, special attention is not usually necessary with most varieties. Proper preparation of land before planting helps to get the plants off to a good start. Training the new grape plant is much simpler if all plants grow uniformly and can be given attention at the same time. Thus, every effort should be made to have the land in good physical condition before planting. Attention should be paid to keeping down competition between the grape plants and weeds that might develop. The usual spacing for most grape varieties is 8 or 10 feet apart in rows that are also 8 to 10 feet apart. If growing conditions are favorable, a spacing of 9 feet apart in rows 8 feet apart is nearly ideal. The distance between the rows should be largely determined by the equipment that one intends to use in working or taking care of the vineyard. In the production of some types of grapes it is necessary to provide a trellis or support for vines. This makes it possible to train the vine and still be able to get through the field with equipment to carry out the various cultural operations necessary for the production of grapes.

Soils and climate Grapes are adapted to a wide variety of soil conditions, from high pH and slightly saline, to acidic and clayey. Deep, well-drained, light textured soils are best for wine grapes. Highly fertile soils are unsuited to high quality wine production, since vigor and yield must be controlled. Irrigation can be detrimental to grape internal quality, and is sometimes illegal for wine grapes, but is beneficial for table and raisin grapes where high yields are desired.

Even though grapes have a relatively deep root system, it is desirable to minimize the competition between grapes and any cover crop that might be grown between the rows. This means that it is desirable to cultivate them frequently enough during the early part of the growing season to stimulate good growth and to insure good production. Some grape roots are close to the surface and cultivation should therefore be shallow. Soil management should include some form of winter cover crop to help maintain organic matter and soil texture. Manures are also highly desirable if available. With grapes emphasis should be on organic matter conservation since the vines occupy the land for a long period of time and high organic matter content in the soil favors better plant growth.

Harvest Method Table grapes. Individual clusters are judged for maturity by pickers, and clipped from vines with minimal handling, and placed in plastic lugs.

Raisin, wine and Concord juice grapes. Mechanical harvest is the norm for all processed grapes, except many wine grapes. Wine grape clusters are clipped by hand, and special wines are made from hand-picked berries from particular areas of a cluster. Mechanical harvesters generally have horizontally pivoting arms which smack the canopy, or vibrating fingers which dislodge clusters and berries from. Raisin grapes are often harvested 4-8 days after pruning canes, which causes berries to abscise more easily from clusters. Canes are pruned but left in place, and harvested mechanically when berries are loose. This allows a neat, single layer of de-stemmed berries for harvest onto continuous paper trays.