FBKTILIZEES AND FRUIT. 11 



life of the fruit grower is a lively one while the season lasts, and 

 that continues from the earliest spring till long after the ground 

 freezes up, with trimming, plowing, fertilizing, cultivating and 

 picking." 



There are two important things in Mr. Wygant's testimony that 

 are worth thinking over. One is that, in common with Mr. Williams, 

 he is positive that fertilizers give the best quality in fruits— particu- 

 larly with grapes and peaches. Both recognize the value of stable 

 manure as a mulching material and as a forcer for the growth of wood 

 in young vines and trees, and they recognize why the manure acts as 

 it does— viz. : Because the amount of nitrogen it contains is out of 

 proportion to the potash and phosphoric acid. Another point peculiar 

 to these fruit farms is the fact that no effort is made to grow clover or 

 other crops for green manure. On that vineyard that Mr. Williams 

 spoke of, now 15 years old, where no stable manure has ever been 

 used, there must be little or no humus left in the soil, and yet neither 

 in quantity nor quality do the crops of grapes fail. This brings up a 

 curious problem in the use of manures and fertilizers. Has the import- 

 ance of humus or vegetable matter in the soil been overestimated ? In 

 how far will frequent and thorough cultivation of the upper soil take 

 the place of the mechanical effect of stable manure or sod? This 

 would be an interesting question for our experiment stations to take 

 up. These vineyards certainly prove that on the soil of these farms it 

 is not necessary to consider the application of vegetable matter in 

 order to produce large crops of good grapes. It is true that some 

 weeds and grass are worked into the soil in cultivating these grapes, 

 but no studied effort is made to secure a green manure crop ot asod. 



More Humus Needed Mere. 



This is not quite the plan followed by Mr. W. F. Taber, of Pough- 

 keepsie, whose place was next visited. Strawberries and grapes are 

 Mr. T.'s chief crops, with the former as the principal money earner. 

 We can see from his practice that the strawberry grower must have a 

 mulching material of some sort, while the grape grower can get on 

 withoufit. Mr. Taber uses large quantities of st-able manure, because 

 that is the cheapest and best mulching material he can get. Like all 

 the rest of these fruit men, he says that actual fertility is cheaper in 

 the form of chemical fertilizers, but the mulch and vegetable matter is 

 cheaper in the form of manure. The difference between strawberry 

 and grape growing in this matter of the necessity of using manure is 

 worth remarking. Mr. Taber's soil is heavier than that of the other 

 farms thus far described, and he has found that humus or vegetable 

 matter is needed to help lighten or loosen it. The grapes, by the way. 



