THE RURAL N E W-YORKKR 
April 12, 
632 
TREATMENT OF AN OLD VINEYARD. 
E. M. S., Alamo, Mich ,—I have a vine¬ 
yard of 2% acres that has been hadly 
neglected; it is six years old and I should 
judge that it has not been cultivated since 
set. It has a thick wire-grass sod. The 
land is hilly and a clay gravel. What 
would be the best thing to do with it? 
Ans. —The neglected vineyard re¬ 
quires somewhat the same treatment in 
attempting to renovate that the apple 
orchard does, only the methods differ 
in degree. The first step in reclaiming' 
the above should be a general repairing 
of the trellis. New posts should be put- 
in where needed and wires repaired, 
stretched and stapled. Next a rather 
severe pruning should be given, vary¬ 
ing in severity according to the amount 
of wood growth made the past year 
and the variety. Rank growing varieties 
or vines, of course, are pruned less 
severely than the weaker. If the past 
season’s growth has been but little it 
may be advisable to cut back all the old 
wood, merely leaving the stem reach¬ 
ing to the lower wire, and bearing two 
or three short spurs of the past sea¬ 
son's growth. In addition, if a cane 
has started from the old stem near 
the ground, it should be retained for 
tying up, and if the vineyard has been 
trained to the Kniffen systems this cane 
should be tied up to the top wire for 
the permanent stem, and the old one 
entirely cut away. No factor will show 
greater results in the end in the reno¬ 
vation of a vineyard than the careful 
and thoughtful heading in of the vines 
and the elimination of the old wood 
that it entails. The writer has seen 
vineyards that were left untrimmed and 
otherwise neglected for some years re¬ 
spond wonderfully with well ripened 
wood of good length after attention 
had been given to this detail. 
The second step is a little more dif¬ 
ficult to carry out. A sod of six years’ 
standing is not the easiest thing in the 
world to break, and especially is this 
true in the vineyard even more so than 
in the orchard, as the feeding parts of 
the vine are in a more limited space 
in the soil. Unless the vines were set 
extraordinarily deep, and thus have 
made but little growth, it is very likely 
that the roots are not very deep down, 
and deep tilling at this time might do 
more harm than good. While moderate 
root pruning probably does little harm, 
but possibly some good in the way of 
stimulating root growth, on the other 
hand too much cutting of the roots 
would result in a disastrous way. It 
is not advisable to attempt to turn under 
sod in a vineyard in this condition the 
first year with the plow, but rather by 
using the disk, setting it so that it 
works away from the hills. It may 
be necessary to run over the vineyard 
two or three times in order to break 
the sod, but it can be done. After a 
satisfactory job has been done with the 
disk, and, of course, it will not be as 
we would like to have it, one should 
follow with the grape horse hoe to 
clean out the sod from under the vines. 
If the horse hoe be not available hand 
hoeing will be required. There are sev¬ 
eral kinds of hand hoes offered by va¬ 
rious manufacturers for grape work. 
Hand hoeing is a harder and longer 
task than when the horse hoe is used, 
but it may be more satisfactory in the 
end. Even after the horse hoe is used 
there is always more or less hand- 
hoeing required next to the vines. After 
the sod is broken the soil should be 
frequently stirred , by the use of the 
disk, spring-tooth or diamond-tooth 
cultivators, not only between the rows 
but under the wires where the hand- 
hoe will have to be resorted' to again. 
Some stirring of the soil every two weeks 
at least is not a bit too frequent, and 
especially should the^ soil be worked 
after heavy showers. About the last of 
July the disk should be set so that tlTe 
earth is thrown back toward the vines. 
If the horse hoe be available the blade 
of it can be reversed; this will throw 
up a ridge close to the vines, and then 
the disking can follow. The principal 
object in working up to the hills is to 
prevent water from settling around the 
bases of the vines, and it is also thought 
that heaving is lessened. If the soil 
was fairly rich in plant food before 
the vineyard was set it is quite unlikely 
that very heavy toll . was taken in the 
crops under the conditions prevailing, so 
that manuring or fertilizing will prob¬ 
ably not be necessary. This does not 
mean that such will always be the case, 
however. The second year shallow 
plowing with the single-horse plow or 
the gang can be done, and in the suc¬ 
ceeding years the depth can be increased. 
The second year it would be advis¬ 
able to sow a cover-crop of some kind. 
The pruning and cultivation must be 
done yearly. Whether spraying will be 
necessary must be determined from year 
to year. Some localities find it unnec¬ 
essary in certain seasons, while others 
would be unable to market a single crop 
unless spraying had been timely and 
thoroughly done. Black rot and pow¬ 
dery mildew are the two most common 
fungous diseases of the grape, while 
the grapevine flea-beetle, the grape 
berry-moth, the grape root-worm, the 
leaf-hopper and rose-chafer are the 
principal insect enemies. While cul¬ 
tural methods may in a measure assist 
in their control, spraying must supple¬ 
ment them. F. E. GLADWIN. 
Dissolving Nitrate of Soda. 
L. A. C., Terra Alta, W. Va .—Would it be 
advisable to dilute nitrate of soda with 
water then put sufficient sawdust in tbe 
mixture to absorb the nitrate and let it 
dry. I want to use nitrate as a top-dress¬ 
ing on grass but it is full of coarse lumps. 
I bad an idea I could dissolve in water 
and treat as outlined above. 
Ans.—T his is quite often done, but 
sifted coal ashes will make a better 
“carrier’’ for the nitrogen than sawdust. 
Some gardeners make considerable use 
of their coal ashes in this way. Nitrate 
and potash salts are dissolved in water 
and then sprinkled over coal ashes like 
liquid manure. As the ashes dry the 
plant food is held and may be distrib¬ 
uted, in this way. 
Need of Potash and Phosphoric Acid. 
L. D. II’., Morris Co., N. J. —M.v farm is 
situated in Northern New Jersey, is a heavy 
clay subsoil. Some fields are a gravelly 
top soil and generally level, but well 
drained. 1 am out for permanent soil en¬ 
richment and would like to know what you 
think of the plan I have been trying to 
carry out, and give advice as to a better 
plan. I keep about nine to 10 head of cat¬ 
tle, three 1 horses and the manure from this 
stock and about 70 tons of horse manure 
which I buy I put on about 10 to 12 acres 
of sod during the year, cleaning out my 
yard in April and turning it under myself 
very well with a three-horse plow with 
coulter ahead. About May 1. covering by 
hand with about 40 to 50 bushels of burned 
lime spread after lime is slaked. This 
brings a very good corn crop, but not as 
good as I would like to have. I give the 
corn the best care and shallow cultivation, 
usually tending' it four times, getting 
through about July 1. The next year 1 sow 
to oats, always getting a good crop of straw, 
but not as many .oats as 1 would like to 
have for the straw. I plow once for Winter 
grain and about September 10 drill in rye 
with 450 pounds or 2-8-10 potash fertilizer 
per acre. This gives me a good crop of 
rye, and seeding the rye with clover and 
Timothy brings me a good crop of grass the 
first and second year, but not the third. 
1 would like to enrich my ground so I 
could cut a good crop of hay four or five 
years and have larger crops of all kinds. I 
thought of drilling in about 500 pounds of 
phosphate rock or floats on my corn 
ground, and spreading lime on oat ground. 
When do you think is the best time to apply 
lime? I cannot use ground limestone,* as 
freight and cost of hauling would be too 
much. Would 300 pounds of phosphate 
rock per acre improve the quality and 
quantity of my oat crop? I found a spear 
of Alfalfa about every five square feet on 
my ye stubble last Fall; it must have come 
in my clover seed. as I have never sown 
any. Would this be enough to inoculate the 
soil to bring a good stand of Alfalfa? 
Ans. —We should say that this soil 
needs both phosphoric acid and potash 
to supply the crop needs. We should 
use a mixture of three parts acid phos¬ 
phate to one of muriate of potash on 
the corn crop. Evidently the soil is 
well supplied with nitrogen for both 
corn and oats. The lime used with the 
corn sets free much of the nitrogen 
in both the sod and the manure. We 
have not found corn the best place in 
the rotation for using lime. That crop 
does not respond to lime as wheat and 
grass do and as you use the lime there 
must be a loss of humus. As for raw 
phosphate rock we doubt the wisdom 
of depending on it with such soil. We 
should use the superphosphate except 
as a fair experiment. Our plan would 
be to use the lime when seeding to rye 
and grass. We should also seed rye 
and Crimson clover in the corn to be 
turned under for the oats. This plan 
will give you better corn as the result 
of using potash and phosphoric acid, 
the cover crop will help keep up the 
organic matter in the soil and the liming 
at seeding will give the grass a more 
permanent stand. If you top dress the 
grass in Spring with a fertilizer rich 
in nitrogen you can keep it going profit¬ 
ably. 
ONE YEAR OLD 
APPLE TREES 
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