THE VINEYARD AND TTS MANAGEMENT 91 







Cover-crops. 



In an experiment being conducted by the New York Agri- 

 cultural Experiment Station, grapes do not give a very appre- 

 ciable response to cover-crops in yield of fruit or growth of 

 vine. 1 There seem to be no other experiments to confirm the 

 results at the New York Station, and grape-growers nowhere 

 have used cover-crops very generally for the betterment of their 

 vineyards. There is doubt, therefore, as to whether grapes 

 will respond profitably to the annual use of cover-crops in yield 

 of fruit, which, of course, is the ultimate test of the value of 

 cover-crops, but a test hard to apply unless the experiment 

 runs a great number of years. 



Leaving out the doubtful value of cover-crops in increasing 

 the supply of plant-food and thereby producing an increase 

 in yield, there are at least three ways in which cover-crops 

 are valuable in the vineyard. Thus, it is patent to all who have 

 tried cover-crops in the vineyard that the land is in much better 

 tilth and more easily worked when some green crop is turned 

 under in fall or spring ; it is not unreasonable to assume, though 

 it is impossible to secure reliable experimental data to confirm 

 the belief, that cover-crops protect the roots of grapes from 

 winter-killing ; certainly it may be expected that a cover- 

 crop sowed in midsummer will cause grapes to mature their wood 

 earlier and more thoroughly so that the vines go into the winter in 

 better condition. The only objection to be raised against 

 cover-crops in the vineyard is that pickers, mostly women, 

 object to the cover-crop when wet with rain or dew and usually 

 choose to pick in vineyards having no stfch crop. This seem- 

 ingly insignificant factor often gives the grape-grower who 

 sows cover-crops much trouble in harvest time. 



Several cover-crops may be planted in vineyards as clover, 



1 For an account of this experiment, see Bui. 381 of the N. Y. Agr. 

 Exp. Sta., Geneva. 



