6 fHEfttJEAL LIBEARY. 



do well at all. I believe that nine-tenths of the Delaware vines planted 

 have been pulled out because they did not suit the locality. That is 

 the great advantage of testing varieties and knowing just how they 

 yield." 



" How do the grapes ripen with you ? What would be your rotation 

 for selling?" 



" First come Moore's Early and Hartford. Last year the first ripe 

 ones were picked August 17. This year the date was August 23. Then 

 follow Delawares if they have been well cared for. Then come Con- 

 cord and Niagara, and last Catawba." 



"How are the vines protected ? " 



" We practice the KnifSn system of pruning and training. We are 

 obliged to lay down Niagara and Catawba. Last winter was the fi)-st 

 that Delaware stood up. In laying down we prune and then bend the 

 vines towards the center from either row and fasten down with a peg 

 or crotch." 



Putting on the Fertiliser. 



"When do you applj' fertilizer ? " 



"About the third week in April we aim to begin, and make one job 

 of applying the fertilizer to all crops. We broadcast it all over between 

 rows and around vines. It is done by hand entirely— the men are 

 instructed to take big handfuls and not to mind if they take so much 

 much that part of it spills on the ground. The man with the biggest 

 hand is the fellow to broadcast fertilizer for us ! " 



"After broadcasting fertilizer, what? " 



"We plow it in about three inches deep, and at once run over with 

 the harrow. We plow three times and harrow four times ; that is, once 

 after each of the first two plowings and twice after the last one. There 

 is no regular time for these workings of the soil. We do it to keep 

 weeds down and the ground stirred. We use the Syracuse plow and 

 the Osborne lever set harrow. The latter is a valuable tool for such 

 work, as it can be regulated to cut at any depth." 



" In what respect does your feeding of currants differ from that of 

 grapes ? " 



"We have found it best to use stable manure on currants as a 

 mulch. We also use our home mixture of coal ashes and hen manure 

 on this crop. To illustrate how heavily we feed them I will tell you 

 what we did on an acre of currants with strawberries growing between 

 the rows. The plants were set three feet apart. We first put 14 loads 

 of stable manure between the bushes. Then over the furrows on a 

 space three feet wide we put 1,600 pounds of bone and over that 600 

 pounds of sulphate of potash. Then we threw a light furrow towards 



