232 Vineyard Culture. 



general rule, any good soil, well prepared, is considered good 

 enough for the vine. There are vineyards, however, that 

 have been much benefitted by the applications of manures, 

 and even very strong ones have been applied, without appear- 

 ing to injure the quality of the product. Even in Missouri, 

 it appears that some vignerons have applied manures with ad- 

 vantage. It is generally supposed that barn-yard manure 

 should be composted before being spread. Chemical or arti- 

 ficial manures have been applied, with apparently good effect. 

 Ashes, either directly applied to vines, or as an element of the 

 composts, would appear to be an important application, un- 

 less the soil were unusually rich in potash.] 



Nature of Manures to be Employed. — Ac- 

 cording to M. de Gasparin, for every one hundred 

 kilogrammes of grapes, we have the following constit- 

 uents : 



NITROGEN. POTASH. 



64.50 kil. of wine containing 1 0.35 "I ^ ,g 



16.66 " ofdrypomace 0-3°/ 0.21/ ■■" 



187.00" ofdryshoots °"5° 1 a gi °''''lo«i: 



123.42" ofdryleaves « 2.34/ ' * o.ig / '" 



Total 3.14 o.gi 



This analysis shows that nitrogen plays a very unim- 

 portant part in the fruitage of the vine, since one hun- 

 dred pounds of grapes only contain 0.30 pounds of that 

 substance. On the other hand, it is found in tolerably 

 large quantities in the shoots, and especially in the 

 leaves. With respect to the salts of potash, the reverse 

 is the case : they are much more abundant in the grapes 

 than in the branches and leaves. We must, therefore, 

 come to the conclusion that nitrogenous manures favor 

 the development of the wood, and that the salts of pot 

 ash will powerfully contribute to the fruit-bearing. 



