The Manuring of Vineyards. 65 



than the middle of August. Towards the end of August all plough- 

 ing operations should have been completed and the vineyard ready 

 for summer cultivation. 



It is probable that one of the chief reasons why green manuring 

 of vineyards is not more generally practised is because the ploughing 

 under of the crop presents certain difficulties, especially when the 

 vines are planted 5 feet by 5 feet, or even closer together, for then 

 the farmer cannot use a disk-plough or a disk-coulter attached to a 

 big plough. In such vineyards the following procedure is recom- 

 mended : Draw a furrow down the centre of each row by means of a 

 double mouldboard plough and sow the peas in this furrow. A small 

 5-tooth cultivator, set as narrow as possible and with the back arm 

 removed, leaving only the two front and middle arms, is now run in 

 the furrow, thus covering the seed without closing up the furrow too 

 much. When ready to be turned under, the peas are simply trampled 

 into the furrow by labourers and then covered in by running the 

 plough along each side of the furrow. If the growth of peas is not 

 very vigorous, it may not be necessary to tramp them down before 

 ploughing. 



When the vines are planted further apart, it is advisable to 

 broadcast the seed and then plough it in, leaving a furrow down 

 the centre of each row. The furrow will be of great help when the 

 crop is to be turned under, as the growing peas can be worked into 

 it and easily covered in by the plough. 



If the farmer has sufficient farm manure for his vineyards, he 

 will probably not trouble about green manuring, but if he has only 

 a small supply, or no manure, he is advised to try green manuring, 

 especially if his soil is light and deficient in humus. 



When it is used it will be necessary to supplement with fertilizers 

 containing the required amounts of phosphoric oxide and potash. 



Artificial Fertilizers. 

 With regard to the purchase of fertilizers for vineyards, the 

 farmer will always need to purchase phosphates, and in most cases 

 also nitrogen and potash fertilizers. It will be as well to consider 

 the available sources of each of these three plant-foods separately. 



(a) Nitrogenous Fertilizers. 



Government Guano takes first place among these (though strictly 

 a " mixed " fertilizer, containing phosphoric oxide and a little potash 

 in addition to nitrogen), as it is tlie cheapest and one of the best 

 sources of artificial nitrogen. The supplies are controlled by Govern- 

 ment, and, unfortunately, there is only a limited quantity available 

 each year. Failing farm manure and green manure, the farmer is 

 strongly advised to purchase all his nitrogen in the form of guano, 

 if he can get it. A good sample of guano will contain about 10 per 

 cent, nitrogen, 11 per cent, phosphoric oxide, and 1-2 per cent, 

 potash, all in a readily available form, and it is sold at £10 per 

 ton to-day. If we value the phosphoric oxide and potash at current 

 market rates, we find that the nitrogen costs the farmer just about 

 one-half the price he would have to pay for it on the open market. 



Blood-meal is a fairly popular nitrogen fertilizer at present. It 

 consists simply of the dried and ground blood of animals, and con- 

 tains about 12 per cent, nitrogen in a fairly quickly available form, 

 and practically no phosphoric oxide or potash. The demand for 

 nitrogen fertilizers in this country daring the war period sent its 



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