1893 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
779 
day during the busy season and bring in green foods 
to the cows. Then, too, much more fully matured corn 
can be obtained from an acre than is possible to get 
from any other crop at that season of the year, when 
soiling is necessary. 2. It should and does give as good 
results in milk production as green crops; better than 
from the ordinary “sowed corn.” Mr. J. E. Rogers, of 
Einghamton, who feeds ensilage the entire year except 
at the time he is filling his silos, says that his cows 
always shrink in their milk when they go on the green 
corn at this interval, and increase again when they get 
back to the ensilage. Great care should be taken that 
it is fed after milking, if fine butter or cream is the 
end sought; for the acidity of the ensilage, particu¬ 
larly in warm weather, will have a tendency to pro¬ 
duce an unpleasant flavor in the product. There would, 
of course, be no danger of this with green crops cut 
each day. 
It should always be remembered that corn ensilage 
is carbonaceous and is not a perfect food in itself. In 
fact, I have never found any soiling crop, unless it be 
oats and peas at their best, i. e., when well filled with 
grain, that would give satisfactory results without a 
grain ration fed with them. On nearly all farms good 
pasture does not exist for more than a month or six 
weeks in the spring and for about the same length of 
time in the fall. If profit is to be made from the cows 
during the summer, some supplementary food must 
be provided. Ensilage does make the farm more 
nearly self supporting, as I can readily show any one 
who will take the 
trouble to visit “Sun-; 
nyside.” It also en¬ 
ables the pasture to 
carry more cows, but 
it will not take the 
place of the nitro¬ 
genous portion o f 
the grain ration. This 
I can best supply by 
cotton-seed meal, or, 
failing in obtaining 
that, wheat bran. 
KPW. VAN ALSTYNK. *~\ 
Kinderhook, N. Y. \ 
A WINDMILL ON A 
POLE. 
It is often desirable 
to erect a windmill in t- 
a location where a ' 
derrick is difficult of 
construction. Fig. 
253 (see page 780), — 
shows a windmill at ^ 
the back of the Hicks * Y A 
dwelling house, s o 
erected as to do away 
{ *2, 
with the unsightly 
and cumbersome der¬ 
rick. The illustra¬ 
tion shows the plan 
perfectly. It consists 
simply of a stout * 
pole firmly planted 
and braced at the bottom, and guyed by means of 
strong iron braces from near the top. Cleats securely 
nailed furnish a ladder for climbing up to oil and 
repair the mill. A luxuriant climbing vine drooping 
gracefully from the guys adds to the appearance. 
This simple device withstands the breezes of Long 
Island, which are not always gentle zephyrs, so it 
would be strong enough for most localities. 
FERTILIZERS AND FRUIT. 
AMONG THE HUDSON KIVEK GRAPE GROWERS. 
Part II. 
The Feeding of the Grape. 
“ This vineyard that you speak of has had no stable 
manure at all ? ” 
“ Not a pound. As I said, it is a place where it is 
not convenient to haul manure. On most of our grapes 
we use manure when the vines are young to induce a 
heavy growth of wood, but even this may be overdone 
and too much wood growth made. I am satisfied with 
the growth made on those vines where nothing but 
fertilizer was used. In fact, these vines are sounder 
and freer from disease than any others. We may not 
get such a luxuriant growth when less nitrogen is 
used, but the wood thus made is sounder and harder.” 
“ What combination of fertilizers has given you the 
best results on fruits ? ” 
“ I have not tried any home mixing, but have used 
mixed goods—the Mapes Fruit and Vine seems to have 
about the right composition for our use. This contains 
about 3 per cent of ammonia, 10 of phosphoric acid 
and 11 of potash. If we were to mix at home, we should 
try to get about that proportion. ” 
“ How heavily do you fertilize ? ” 
“ On grapes, we use about 600 pounds every other 
year. On Delaware grapes, we use about 800 pounds.” 
“ Why more on this variety ?” 
“ One reason is that thare are more vines of this 
variety to the acre. It is a smaller vine and is set 
closer. Again it is a heavy feeder and will stand more 
fertilizer than others. To show how many more 
Delawares there are on an acre than of some other 
varieties, I can tell you how close we plant them. 
Catawbas and Moore’s Early 9x8 feet, Concords and 
Niagaras 9x9 feet and Delawares 6x8.” 
“ What other differences in feeding habit of grapes 
have you noticed ?” 
“As I said, Delawares will stand most crowding, 
with Moore’s Early close to them in this respect. We 
have found that Niagaras cannot stand too much 
prosperity, but can be overfed so that fertilizer may 
be wasted on them. Differences of varieties in this 
respect are considerable—and are well worth study¬ 
ing—almost as much so as with different kinds of 
animals.” 
“ What about varieties ?” 
“ We have 47 varieties in all—some tested in a small 
way only. For our chief crop we confine ourselves to 
some half dozen varieties. There is most money for 
us in Delawares. That variety and Catawba grow to 
perfection on our soil, while in many localities they 
will not do well at all. I believe that nine-tenths of 
the Delaware vines planted have been pulled out 
m 
ts^T 
i.. u 
Filling the Silo. Cutter, Engine and Crew. Fig. 252, 
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 eome Con¬ 
cord and Niagara, and last Catawba.” 
“ How are the vines protected ? ” 
“We practice the Kniffin system of pruning and 
training. We are obliged to lay down Niagara and 
Catawba. Last winter was the first 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.” 
i 
, Putting on the Fertilizer. 
“ When do you apply fertilizer ? ” 
“ About the third week in April we aim to begin, 
and make one job of applying the fertilizer to all 
i crops. We broadcast it all over between rows and 
around vines. It is done by hand entirely—the men 
i are instructed to take big handfuls and not to mind if 
i they take so much that part of it spillsjjon the ground. 
1 The man with the biggest hand is the fellow to broad¬ 
cast 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 
i 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 dif¬ 
fer from that of grapes ?” 
“ We have found it best to use stable manure on cur¬ 
rants 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 be¬ 
tween 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 (500 
pounds of sulphate of potash. Then we threw a light 
furrow towards the bushes and ran a cultivator around 
them until all was level. This dose was to feed both 
currants and str, wberries.” 
“ It ought to do it, but isn’t that very heavy feeding ? ” 
“ It is heavier than usual with us, but heavy feeding 
pays with small fruits. One of our neighbors once had 
a rule of putting ‘ all the manure he had left ’ on an 
acre of strawberries. He never could grow a profit¬ 
able crop on this basis. Finally he changed his plan 
and put all the manure on half an acre. Then he be¬ 
gan to grow profitable fruit, and that is a good illustra¬ 
tion of the wisdom of giving short lived, quick grow¬ 
ing fruits an abundance of food.” 
“ How about raspberries?” 
“We manure them much the same as for currants. 
Sometimes in the 
' t spring, we put a 
v handful of fertilizer 
\ U'L around each bush— 
A'/, _, A .’ not being very care- 
I//V | ; ful to avoid taking 
ly A more than a handful. 
Lr~ Our apples and pears 
// ? are among the cur- 
//Vy • .'L rants.” 
l/y\\ • “What food for 
!/ V C 'W peaches ?” 
//_\V— r _ “For young grow- 
/'-"•Mim ,y |\\- ing trees, we use 
, K\ /•/' x , stable manure, but 
/ / V ■{ when they begin 
A V bearing we use ferti- 
\| x // \ ( lizers entirely. The 
fertilizer gives a 
^ I f~ l[~ r ~ thriftier bearing tree 
< and bet * er ° o1 r , and 
HBUpL. - ’ aTor v* ,r “ : 
a 'mn \ ° f utilizer (say 
about 1% poundjscat- 
BjW ftt ft 1 V * ^ - j t \\ tered around the tree 
MM I ’ increasing the space 
.AUrtVi _ ■ around the tree, over 
\ ■ jJ which it is spread, 
as ^ be ^ ree % r ° w 8 
older ‘ Thetreestre 
. u y/vjL set 15x15 feet. The 
. je> fertilizer is put on in 
the spring—from the 
middle of April to 
May 1. There can 
be no doubt that fertilizers give fruit of best quality.” 
“ You do not grow strawberries ?” 
“ No, it is too dry for them here. In fact, as I have 
said, that is why we grow so many grapes—this fruit 
doing better in this dry section than any other.” 
The value of Mr. Williams’s experience lies in the 
fact that his fruits are noted everywhere for their fine 
(luality . He sent some magnificent grapes to the 
World’s Fa : r, and always commands the highest mar¬ 
ket prices. He does not hesitate to say that this ex¬ 
cellent quality is largely due to the fact that he uses 
fertilizers alone to grow the crop. Stable manure is 
very useful as a mulch on small fruits or to grow wood 
in the early life of the vine, but for the fruit he will 
use nothing but fertilizers. 
(To be Continued.) 
Why do you use fertilizers when you can get plenty 
of manure ? we asked a practical farmer the other 
day. He said there were three chief reasons. The 
fertilizers could be stored in a small space and kept 
under shelter so that they would not spoil. Stable 
manure is sure to be more or less injured if kept out¬ 
doors. Again, fertilizers are more available. They 
are ready for use at once, and you can put them on 10 
acres while one acre is being well manured. You can 
take a can of prepared soup and have it all eaten and 
digested before you can make a soup from bones or 
vegetables. Another point is that with the fertilizer 
you can feed the iplant just when food is needed. For 
example, if your crop looks puny and unthrifty, you 
can go right in and save it with fertilizer—a thing 
that would not be possible with manure. These points, 
we think, are very evident, and in no way do they 
conflict with the use of manure. 
mm- 
