23 
tillage with the cultivator in August, leaving a comparatively even 
bed of ground. Over this springs up a low green mat of chickweeds, 
sandworts and Veronicas which make a carpet that is pleasant for 
pickers to travel over in October. 
The Southern cow pea, if sown not later than the first of August, 
will make enough growth to afford a substantial winter cover for 
the ground and furnish a good quantity of vegetable matter to be 
plowed under in the spring to contribute humus and nitrogen to the 
soil. 
If cover crops cannot be sown before the middle of August it is 
best to use such late growing plants as rape or turnips. Rye may 
be sown in September and furnish a green carpet for pickers in Octo- 
ber. 
FERTILIZERS. 
The use of fertilizers in vineyards has not yet been reduced to a 
uniform practice. Until quite recently no fertilizer was used except 
barnyard manure in greater or less quantities, and then not every 
year. Some vineyards, even 20 years old, have never received any 
fertilizer. We know now that barnyard manure is essentially a 
nitrogenous fertilizer and as such stimulates the growth of vine 
and foliage. This may often be desirable, particularly if a soil poor 
in humus has been used for the vineyard, but when a soil has been 
chosen that produces vigorous vines it must be apparent that an 
application of barnyard manure would be unwise. We also know 
that the essential plant food for the development of fruit is potash 
and, consequently, the intelligent grape growers are using largely of 
this element, buying wood ashes, kainit, muriate of potash and sul- 
phate of potash. It is also known that the phosphorus compounds 
are essential to the general nutrition of all plants, and that phos- 
phorus is found in greater quantities in seeds than iu any other part 
of plants. As the development of fruit is dependent upon the devel- 
opment of its seed, it is clear that this plant food should be supplied, 
when it is manifest that it is lacking in the vineyard soil. To supply 
this the vineyardist buys bone meal or rock phosphates. 
The quantify of fertilizers used has been with considerable range. 
In one vineyard no manure has been used in twenty £ears, in another 
a wheelbarrowfull was placed about each vine annually. In one 
vineyard 200 pounds of muriate of potash per acre was applied once 
in several years, in another, S00 pounds of the same fertilizer wan 
applied to each acre annually. 
Every agriculturist and horticulturist who has to solve the problem 
of how much fertilizer is profitable to apply to a crop, soon learn* 
that while a heavy application may produce a larger crop than a light 
application, yet the limit of better financial returns is retched long 
