4 THE EURAL LIBRARY. 



cheaper ; but, as I said, on our soil and with some of our crops a mulch 

 of some sort is necessary, and stable manure gives us this cheaper 

 than we can get it in any other material." 



TJie Relation of Fertilisers to Manure. 



"You speak of using manure on small fruits ; do you not use it on 

 grapes, too ? " 



" No, except when the vines are young and we are trying to produce 

 an abundant growth of wood. Grapes do not need mulching like 

 strawberries or raspberries. The roots of the latter are short and the 

 fruit grows and matures very rapidly, so that a constant supply of 

 moisture must be right at hand. The mulch of manure helps to con- 

 serve this moisture. On the other hand, the grape has a longer grow- 

 ing season and its roots stretch out everywhere after food and moisture. 

 Thus the mulch is not needed— in fact, shallow cultivation is better 

 than the mulch." 



" So you use fertilizers on the grapes ? " 



"Yes, after they begin bearing. Our farm is naturally very droughty. 

 Strawberries have never done well with us for lack of water, but grapes 

 seem to thrive better in dry seasons than any other fruits. Our experi- 

 ence is that stable manure is a forcing or stimulating plant food. Its 

 amount of nitrogen is proportionately too high, and when used in 

 quantities large enough to supply the needed potash and phosphoric 

 acid it gives too much growth of wood, which not only delays ripening, 

 but stimulates the vine or tree too much and leaves it in the fall with 

 too much tender young growth to be killed by the frost. This is why 

 we say that stable manure is very good for forcing the growth of young 

 grape vines, but we never would use it on bearing vines to produce a 

 crop. In other words, use manure to grow ivood and fertilizers to 

 grow/rwit/" 



" You say the fertilizers give you an earlier ripening grape ? " 



"Certainly ; the fertilizers have a tendency to ripen the grapes four 

 or five days earlier than when manure was used. They not only ripen 

 earlier, but they ripen better and more uniformly." 



"Do you find any difference in quality and appearance? " 



"Yes, indeed; the fertilized grapes are ahead in these respects. We 

 have one vineyard of Delaware and Catawbas on a spot where it was 

 not convenient to haul any manure. They have had absolutely nothing 

 but fertilizers from the day they were planted. They are the finest 

 looking grapes we pack, and as for quality our pickers ought to be 

 good judges, for they pick all over our 20 acres as well as for other 

 people. Yet, to get grapes for their own eating, they will always go 

 from choice right to that spot where manure has never been used. 



