'1'HtC KUKA.Lv N LC W -YORKER 
617 
planted. By using a part of the nitrogen in the 
form of nitrate of soda, or sulphate of ammonia, we 
supply available nitrogen even when the ground 
is cold and of itself unproductive. Then by using 
blood, hone, and other forms of organic material we 
may have a succession through the season so that 
tin* potato crop is always supplied, and its peculiar 
leeding habits attended .to. These are the chief 
reasons why we find it better to use the chemicals 
on lotatoes, whenever such chemicals are to he 
used at all in the rotation. The most intelligent 
farmers who use fertilizer freely, and plan a definite 
rotation of crops, use all or nearly all of the fertil¬ 
izer on the potato crop, pushing that crop along to 
full production, confident that any part of the plant 
food left in the soil will be taken up and utilized 
by the grass and grain which follow the potato. 
Another point is the fact that corn is a very much 
ranker and heavier growing crop than potatoes, 
and thus capable of breaking down the organic mat¬ 
ter and leaving it in the soil in better condition for 
the next crop than the potatoes could. No one can 
say that good crops of potatoes are not grown with 
manure alone. We all know that, but we are speak¬ 
ing of farms where both manure and chemicals are 
used. 
WINTER INJURY OF THE GRAPE. 
N OBSCURE TROUBLE.—For several years 
past my attention has been directed to a grape 
trouble, the cause of which seemed rather oh- 
'<mre, or was confused with other affections. Ob¬ 
servations covering the past six years in many vine¬ 
yards have tended to point to the conclusion that 
much of the trouble was brought about by an actual 
freezing of the tissues of the stem, arms or canes. 
More commonly, however, the injury was confined to 
tin* stems. Some have claimed that this type of in¬ 
jury was a result of bruising during tillage. The 
fact is, that in but few instances the injury is con 
fined to one side of the stem, but rather the entire 
circumference is affected. This would hardly be 
tin* case with injury from tillage implements. The 
fungus disease, “dead arm,” and the bacterial one 
known as “crown gall” have however been commonly 
assigned as the probable causes. It is very possible 
that crown gall is present in the vineyards of West- 
tern New York to some extent, but so far as the 
writer's observations go it is not by any means 
common. “Dead arm” of the grape is fairly com¬ 
mon to the vineyards of the Chautauqua Belt, yet 
the characteristics of this disease are so different 
from that of the trouble under discussion, that 
the two should not be confused. 
CHARACTER OF TIIE DAMAGE.—During the 
past six years there have been two periods when 
this type of Winter injury showed quite generally. 
In 11)1 li much complaint was heard and many exam¬ 
inations showed that considerable injury had been 
done. The 1911 crop was a particularly heavy one 
and as a result the wood did not go into the Winter 
well matured. This condition in conjunction with 
severe Winter temperatures resulted in the freezing 
of tissues to the extent that they were ruptured. In 
some instances the bark was destroyed completely 
around the stem or arms. The most severe cases 
were observed in the low-lying wet vineyards, or in 
the wet portions of otherwise well-drained ones. 
Again in 11)14 attention was called to similar injury 
from widely-scattered vineyards, and within the past 
few weeks several specimens showing wood probably 
injured during the Winter of 1913-1914, have come 
for the writer’s examination. Invariably the in¬ 
jured vines are those that are of but few years’ 
planting, and in particular those that are making 
a rather rapid, succulent growth. There is another 
type of killing that has been observed for several 
years, which is manifested through root injury. As 
a rule this is the more injurious over knolls or in 
soils that are markedly deficient in humic matter 
and as a consequence are rather dry. 
A SPECIFIC CASE.—The picture. Fig. 214, illus¬ 
trates a piece of the stem of the Clinton grape that 
was injured in the Winter of 1911-1912. I visited 
this vineyard in midsummer at the request of the 
< "'iier. and found a number of vines in one corner 
"f the acreage wilting, followed by dying of the 
canes and shoots with their crop far from mature. 
All the vines that showed this condition of wilt were 
found to have the characteristics shown in the pho¬ 
tograph. The area that included the injured vines 
was very wet during the late Fall, Winter, and 
early Spring. In fact the owner reported that the 
grape truck would sink to the axle when driving 
posts in this part of the vineyard. The rough corky 
growth illustrated in the picture is the attempt of 
the cambium layer to renew the injured tissue. In 
this extreme case where the bark and cambium are 
completely destroyed around the stem the effort has 
resulted in failure. However, when but a part of 
the circumference of the stem is affected this re¬ 
newal growth apparently is of some aid in assist¬ 
ing the vine in its recovery. The injured Clintons 
were cut at or near the ground and new growth 
was thrown from near the point of cutting. This 
growth has since formed a new top to the vines and 
they produced profitable crops in 1914. It is quite 
probable that unless the drainage is improved the 
injury will re-occur at some future time. The fact 
that the roots were not injured and that renewals 
were gotten at or near the ground level indicates 
some likeness to tin* "dead arm” disease, hut the 
We Have All Been Guilty of This. Fig. 213. 
characteristic of the wilting of the tops was so dif¬ 
ferent from that trouble, that no mistake in diag¬ 
nosis was probable. It is quite likely that. Concord 
growing under these soil conditions would have suf¬ 
fered in greater degree as Clinton is quite tolerant 
of wetness. 
EFFECTS OF LOCATION.—One other vineyard is 
worthy of mention iiTLoltDecfiou with' llie Winter 
injury under discussion. At the urgent request of 
the owner I made an examination of it in early 
Summer, 1912. Here the variety is Concord. The 
location of the vineyard is peculiar, in that it is 
located on a low-lying piece of land, that is hounded 
Winter Injury of the Grape. Fig. 214. 
on two sides by an abrupt ridge that is fully 20 feet 
high. The vineyard in this location has much the 
appearance of a natural amphitheatre. The soil of 
the vineyard is rather heavy and impervious to the 
rapid passage of water through it. Much water 
seeps out of the bounding ridge and overflows the 
vineyard. In the Winter there are numerous areas 
of ice through the vineyard. At the time of exam¬ 
ination in this year the upper parts of many of the 
vines were showing severe injury, but few of the 
stems or arms showed the condition illustrated in 
this article. New growth invariably started from 
near the ground on the injured vines, but owing 
to the fact that but one cane for renewal was al¬ 
lowed to grow this would in turn be winter-injured, 
by reason of having made too succulent growth, 
so that all attempts to renew with but the one cane 
failed. In 191” T again visited this vineyard, and 
as just stated, injured vines were common. The 
situation was further complicated by reason that 
some canes showed the lesions of the “dead arm" 
fungus. However, but few vines ever developed the 
characteristic yellowed, crinkled foliage of the dis 
ease. Since the time of the last observation the 
owner has saved more than one renewal cane from 
the ground, and as a result has got not so suecu 
lent growth as when but the one cane was left, and 
as a result the injury has been considerably les¬ 
sened. 
CONTROLLING TIIE INJURY.—The commercial 
grower is interested primarily in the means at his 
command whereby the injury under discussion can 
he lessened so that the financial loss resultant is 
minimized. First he should look to the drainage: 
second, he should aim to keep up the vigor of the 
vines so that the crop is matured in season aud tin* 
subsequent maturity of wood and buds made pos¬ 
sible. In doing this he should strive not for exces¬ 
sive wood growth, but a fair amount sufficient to 
ripen the crop. Late applications of nitrogenous 
fertilizer should be avoided. Cultivation should he 
stopped relatively early, that maturity may he at¬ 
tained. In short, the avoidance of wet soils and the 
carrying out of all the practices of vineyard man¬ 
agement to the end that wood and fruit may he ma¬ 
tured in proper season are the defenses against 
this form of Winter injury. f. e. Gladwin. 
Vineyard Laboratory. 
WHAT VALUE IS SOIL ANALYSIS? 
I wrote the experiment station and sent them a sam¬ 
ple of soil taken from different parts of the field that I 
wish to prepare for seeding to Alfalfa. They write and 
say they cannot advise me what chemicals are short in 
the soil. Can you advise me of any way in which I can 
obtain this data? I have been informed that was what 
the experiment stations were for, to advise farmers how 
to prepare their land to grow the different crops. 
New York. r. w. t. 
HERE is some doubt in the minds of many 
farmers as to what these stations are for. and 
also about how to find the needs of the soil. 
Under the law the stations are supposed to do what 
is called “research" work. That means investigation 
—testing new theories and practices, comparing old 
ones and accumulating facts. From their nature 
and function the stations are not expected to Lx* 
teachers, and, of course, they cannot do everything. 
They are usually willing to do what they can to 
help. The agricultural college has as its first duty 
teaching students who attend. It also has an extent 
sion service through which it tries to reach farmers 
at their homes, either through correspondence or 1>.\ 
personal visits. Such work as It. W. T. wants done 
would be more in line with the agricultural college. 
A good farm bureau with a live county agent would 
be best of all, for the agent could come right to the 
field and give advice. 
Now we come to the needs of the soil. The sta 
tion cannot make soil analyses for all. It has no 
available funds for doing this, as the State has not 
provided for it. The cost of such analysis is con 
siderable, and if the station were to attempt doing 
the work for one farmer it would be forced to do the 
same for thousands. After it was done a soil analy 
sis would not be a sure guide to its fertilizer needs. 
It might show that lime or some other element is 
lacking, but it would not shew the quantity of avail¬ 
able plant food closely enough to make a sure guide. 
The only true way to test the soil for the fertilizer 
needs is to use different chemicals alone or in com¬ 
bination on different strips or plots of soil and oh 
serve the results. It is safe to assume that all East 
ern soil which has been under cultivation for bo 
years needs lime. Whenever Alfalfa is seeded on 
such soils it is always wise to use the equivalent of 
at least one ton of slaked lime. Alfalfa must have 
a deep, well-drained soil with an open subsoil. We 
have found it a mistake to seed Alfalfa on a thin 
soil over rock or on a soil with a stiff hardpan. 
Light sandy soils are usually lacking in nitrogen and 
potash. The clays lack phosphoric acid and soils 
derived from muck, while usually strong in nitrogen, 
are short in both potash and phosphoric acid. If the 
soil is of good texture, deep and well drained, so that 
water will not stand near the surface, we should trj 
the Alfalfa—using lime freely and add a complete 
fertilizer. 
Not long ago a reader asked about “Treewax,” one 
of the fool powders to be poked into a tree to cure < is 
eases and kill insects. Prof. Patton, of Michigan, has 
analyzed it and found 62 per cent, sulphur. 27 salt 
peter and 11 per cent, iron oxide. This might cost 20 
cents a pound—but is sold at $2. 
The Census Bureau places our last cotton crop at 
16,012,143 bales of 500 pounds each. The yield m 
the principal States was: Texas. 4,584.933 bales: 
Georgia, 2,713,470: Alabama, 1,750,281; South Caro 
lina, 1,524,595; Mississippi, 1,244,70”; Oklahoma. L- 
261,350; Arkansas, 1,015,674; Louisiana, 447,861; 
Tennessee, 382,431; Missouri, 81,587; Florida, 80,903. 
There were 81.598 bales of Sea Island cotton. 
