The Cultivation of the Fruit-Farm i6i 



That there has been a depletion of the soil under 

 fruit-culture cannot be doubted. The wonder is 

 that the land produces as heavily as it does. We 

 have no exact record of the amount of soil-exhaus- 

 tion, we only know that the growth of wood in the 

 vineyards is not so great as it was twenty years 

 ago, and that many vineyards have fallen off 

 heavily in production. We know also that the 

 Erie Valley is natiu-ally a region for grapes.' Only 

 one conclusion can be drawn: that of soil depletion. 

 This is true of all American fruit valleys. Com- 

 plaint is made of destructive insects and fungi, of 

 late years, — an enemy that proves weakening of 

 stock. Two resources are available: feeding the 

 soil, and its cultivation. Since the introduction 

 of grape-culture in 1855, the Valley has not known 

 a failure of the grape crop. Few sections of the 

 country have made such a record. In the Valley, 

 during that time, other crops have failed. The 

 steady service of the Concord grape is quite with- 

 out parallel in horticulture. Vineyards fairly 

 planted, not as wisely as we would now plant 

 them, have for upwards of thirty years averaged a 



the lime is added to prevent burning of foliage. In combination with 

 the Bordeaux mixture Paris green may be used at the rate of one pound 

 to 175-200 gallons. The whole subject of combinations of chemicals 

 and ingredients generally as fungicides and insecticides requires par- 

 ticular care and special Bulletins, or treatises should be consulted. 

 Professor Bailey's Principles of Fruit-Growing, and The Spraying of 

 Plants, by E. G. Lodeman, edited by Bailey, are invaluable to every 

 fruit-grower. 



' The grape crop, alone, of the Lake Erie Valley, — the Lake Erie- 

 Chautauqua Grape Belt, for 1914, sold for $2,607,415. 



