New Yoek Agricultural Experiment Station. 535 



side of the row; then follow this with the gang plow, and, if the 

 cover crop was particularly heavy, with the disc harrow. The 

 three-gang plow will cover an 8^/2 foot row in one bout. Where 

 no cover crop was sown, the disc may replace the plow. The sub- 

 sequent cultivation is done with the grape- hoe, hand hoe, spring- 

 tooth harrow, and disc harrow. Just about the time that the root- 

 worm has transferred to the pupa or " turtle " stage and has got- 

 ten into the upper layer of the soil, ready to emerge and, as aduiL, 

 to lay its egg on the canes, the grape hoe may be used to throw 

 a furrow away from the hills. This exposes the delicate pupal 

 stage of the insect to the sun and other climatic conditions which 

 are very destructive to it. Cultivate at regular intervals of ten 

 days and alwavs iust before the soil has crusted from a rain, and 

 especially often in a season of drought. About the first of August 

 discontiue cultivation, the last operations being gang plowing, 

 dragging, and plowing a single furrow up to each side of the hill. 

 Care should be observed to keep the soil level throughout the 

 entire width of the row during the growing season. This insures 

 a more uniform distribution of rainfall. 



Cover crops. — The vineyard should be sown to a cover crop at 

 this time by broadcasting and dragging in with the spring-tooth 

 harrow or else drilling it. Before sowing, it is well to watch the 

 weather maps pretty closely and try to sow just before or just 

 after rain. If good cultivation has been given we will have now 

 a good seed bed. Mammoth clover, vetch, Canada field peas, clover 

 mixed with cow-horn turnips, and winter wheat mixed with cow- 

 horn turnips can be used. Mammoth clover sown at the rate of 

 20 pounds per acre has proven very satisfactory and makes an 

 ideal nitrogenous cover crop for the vineyard. It decays rapidly 

 and adds much nitrogen and humus to the soil. 



The next most promising nitrogenous cover crops for the vine- 

 yard are hairy vetch and a mixture of mammoth clover (15 

 pounds) and cow-horn turnips (1 pound per acre). A mixture of 

 winter wheat (1 bushel) and cow-horn turnips (12 ounces per 

 acre) promises a very satisfactory non-nitrogenous cover crop. 



In addition to furnishing and liberating plant food in the soil, 

 the organic matter derived from a cover crop improves the me- 

 chanical condition and conserves moisture. A crop growing late 

 in the fall, after the vines have ceased growing, also utilizes nitrates 

 that are being formed then and would otherwise be lost by leach- 

 ing, especially on knolls and hillsides liable to washing. There can 

 be no doubt that the grape does best under frequent and thorough 



