CHAPTER XLIV. 

 FERTILIZERS IN THE VINEYARD AND ORCHARD. 



After years of patient experiment in the growing of grapes with commer- 

 cial fertilizers on a soil nearly pure sand, we think that we have learned some- 

 thing in regard to the food necessities of the vine. The soil of the sand hills 

 of Southern North Carolina was selected for the series of experiments car- 

 ried on to determine the food requirements of various fruits and tobacco for 

 the very reason that the soil was nearly a barren sand and had never been in 

 cultivation, and hence was not altered by manuring. These experiments 

 were conducted by the North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station 

 through a series of years, and were managed with the most minute care to 

 avoid any source of error. The land was cleared from the original pine 

 forest, and every stump was dug up and hauled off the land, since the burning 

 would have made changes in the food content of portions of the land, and 

 this we aimed to avoid. The little humus that would naturally have collected 

 in a forest had been regularly destroyed by the forest fires which annually 

 ravaged that section. The forest growth was long leaf pine and scrub oak, 

 and between these the land was covered with the tall growth of wire grass 

 (Aristida Stricta), the great feeder of the fires. This sand hill region has 

 been found peculiarly favorable as a winter home for people suffering from 

 throat and lung diseases, and considerable settlements have grown up with 

 hotels for the transient guests, and many homes of those who have found 

 health there and have remained to make permanent homes. These 

 residents made some experiments in fruit culture, at first only with grapes, 

 Mid they found that with the aid of fertilizers the apparently barren sand 

 grew grapes in wonderful profusion and of remarkably fine quality. Later 

 on other fruits were attempted, and now the peach is the leading market fruit. 

 The experiments were inaugurated for the purpose of studying the needs of 

 the various fruits as to food, and to show the growers how most economically 

 to grow the fruit. Of course the amounts applied on such a soil are no indi- 

 cation of what should be applied on a different soil and in a different climate. 



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