372 AMERICAN GRAPE CULTURE. 



nourishment in the soil. Manuring the vine 

 yard is one of those cases in which we must be 

 guided chiefly by our good judgment, avoiding 

 the two extremes of rankness or poverty of 

 growth. 



Non-Manuring. We have already cautioned 

 the student against overmanuring, or making 

 the soil too rich. A word or two in regard to 

 the opposite extreme will not be out of place 

 There are some virgin soils so rich in plant food 

 as not to need the addition of manure at the 

 time of planting, and for some few years after 

 ward. There are others that need the addition 

 of but a small quantity, and so on. There are 

 those who have planted on naturally rich soils 

 who entertain the idea that no manures will in 

 the future be needed ; that plant food will be 

 perpetually furnished by the gradual resolution 

 of the mineral constituents of the soil. This is 

 a delusion that has been fruitful of evil, and 

 nothing but evil. It has reduced portions of 

 the country to barrenness, and will reduce 

 others to the same condition if persisted in. 

 With the fruits of it staring us in the face 

 daily, it is amazing that people will not heed 

 its lessons. Inexhaustible fertility is a chimera. 

 Nature has bountifully supplied large portions 



