THE RURAIi NEW-YOKKEK 
681 
Commercial Fruit Culture 
FERTILIZING THE GRAPE. 
I have been a fruit grower 35 years, 
mostly interested in grapes. I have found 
by experience in almost any vineyard, cer¬ 
tain sections that were deficient in wood 
growth and therefore in fruit. I have 
found also that there is no utility in 
barnyard manure to better this condi¬ 
tion. except as it might encourage the 
growth of other crops when planted be¬ 
tween rows. In former years I have 
sown Crimson clover and practised plow¬ 
ing under when the blossom was perfect. 
This, however, having been sown the pre¬ 
vious year is somewhat difficult to plow 
und**r at this season, as the ground is 
sometimes very hard by reason of dry 
weather. I have about two acres of vines 
four to six years old. These conditions 
prevail: some vines bear 15 pounds, others 
less than five. I have applied for two 
successive years, barnyard manure to the 
weak sections of this vineyard. This 
Spring I purpose to sow oats and Canada 
peas, plow them under at the proper time 
and sow buckwheat and plow that under, 
in the meantime work in about one ton 
of ground lime. This for the two acres. 
IIow can I better this? m. w. 
Fayetteville, N. Y. 
The conditions here described are very 
common to the majority of vineyards in 
New York. Probably no part of grape 
growing has been given so little attention 
as the detail of fertilization. It is the rule 
to find poor spots in most vineyards, and 
these not far distant from vines that are 
making a very satisfactory growth. The 
exact explanation of this condition is not 
always easy. In sections of the State 
where the Grape-root worm is common 
it no doubt is the cause in some instances. 
Extreme acid conditions of some parts of 
the vineyard is probably another factor 
in keeping the vines in such locations un¬ 
profitable. The grapevine, however, is 
known to be quite tolerant of acidity, and 
it is only in extreme cases that growth 
is affected as a result. It luis been as¬ 
serted that the Concord grape is injured 
by lime. Six years experiment with lime 
applied to this variety in several vine¬ 
yards on different soil types has pro¬ 
duced neither beneficial nor injurious re¬ 
sults. Wood growth, fruit, leaf and 
sugar content were taken as the criter- 
ions. The limed plots were no better, no 
worse, than the unlimed checks. These 
lime applications have included air-slaked 
lump lime, hydrate and ground lime¬ 
stone. From our present knowledge it 
is then perfectly safe to apply lime to the 
vineyard. If lime does not affect favor¬ 
ably the vine, for \vhat purpose shall it 
be used? It is the common practice to 
give the vineyards of Western New York 
fairly good Summer tillage. Further 
there can be no question that insufficient 
fertilization has been given, for supply¬ 
ing the loss of plant food that has been 
taken off in tint crops, and which ou the 
lighter soils has leached away. In short 
the organic matter supplied in the aver¬ 
age manuring has not been sufficient to 
balance the loss of the essential elements, 
mu- have green manures been used to any 
extent to supply these materials. In our 
experimental work it was early seen that 
applications of fertilizers, even in in¬ 
creased amounts, did not materially affect 
vines for the better until we were able 
to incorporate a large amount of organic 
matter with the soil thfough green ma¬ 
nures. In this specific case it was not 
so much a question of lack of plant food 
as it was a deficiency of soil moisture by 
reason of a insufficient humic matter to 
retain it. So great was this deficiency 
of moisture that it was impossible to get 
any satisfactory stand of green manures, 
while 10 feet away the growth was very 
good. The seed would germinate fairly 
well, and the plants would reach a height 
of a few inches, when the tops would 
wither and die to the ground. Attempts 
to get a satisfactory growth failed for 
three years. In the Spring of 1914 a 
rather heavy application of nitrate of 
soda, dried blood and acid phosphate was 
made over this area. During the last 
week of July barley was seeded here at 
the rate of 1*4 bushel per acre, and for 
the first time a good growth was secured. 
This growth was turned down in late 
Fall of the same year. The growth made 
by the vines over this area in previous 
years had been very weak and many of 
them have succumbed to winter-killing. 
The fertilizers here used probably gave 
the barley plants a quick start, so that 
they made sufficient root in a short time 
to overcome the lack of soil moisture 
later. 
It would appear from the inquirer's let¬ 
ter that he has delayed the plowing un¬ 
der of the Crimson clover too long for 
best results, since he states that he has 
plowed when in blossom. In using a 
green manure it should be remembered 
that it is the secondary crop, and if it is 
to interfere seriously with the crop 
which it is to benefit better not use it. 
Crimson clover succeeds in this section 
once in three or four years, as it winter- 
kills very easily. We have used Mammoth 
clover with very good success for the past 
six years. It is sown about the last of 
July, at the rate of 20 pounds per acre. 
It has been the practice to turn this 
stand under when it reaches a height of 
12 to 14 inches. In 1910 it made a much 
more rapid growth and was considerably 
taller than this when turned down. In 
others it has not been up to the first 
named figures. If the Spring and early 
Summer is wet the plowing is delayed. If 
the season has been dry the plowing is 
attended to right after the first good rain, 
and no further chances of running into 
a drought are taken. 
It is important that the soil be worked 
into a mulch early and so maintained 
during the growing season. In 1912 sev¬ 
eral rows that had been seeded to Mam¬ 
moth clover were not plowed in the 
Spring along with the others, but they 
were mowed two or three times during 
the Summer and the straw left as a 
mulch. These vines began to show a 
lack of moisture during July, and at 
harvest time but a small percentage of 
the fruit was fit to market. Wood 
growth was very scant, and even today 
they have not fully recovered from the 
practice. This illustration simply serves 
to show the importance of moisture in 
grape growing. It is very probable that 
M. W. can get a good stand of Mammoth 
clover, since he has successfully grown 
Crimson clover on this soil. If there is 
any question about the ability to do so 
then make a lime application this Spring 
and harrow it in thoroughly. One of the 
best crops that can be grown in the vine¬ 
yard for soil improvement is Ilairy vetch. 
Usually it is best to grow this in connec¬ 
tion with another crop. Rye and Win¬ 
ter wheat have proven satisfactory with 
us for combining with the vetch. 
I should most certainly advise against 
the sowing of oats and Canada peas this 
Spring, or any other for that matter, in 
the vineyard, for reasons already enum¬ 
erated. From the time growth is start¬ 
ing in the Spring till the first of August 
or thereabouts, all growth but that of the 
grape should be suppressed, as it will 
be, if a good dust mulch is maintained. 
At or after this time the soil-improve¬ 
ment crop may be grown. 
Our fertilizer experiments seem to in¬ 
dicate that the vineyard can be main¬ 
tained profitably through the use of com¬ 
mercial fertilizers. Nitrogen carried in 
nitrate of soda and dried blood has 
proven very effective; 100 pounds of the 
nitrate and 400 pounds of the blood are 
mixed together, and one-half this mix¬ 
ture is broadcast throughout the width 
of the rows when the new growth is out 
eight to 10 inches. The remaining half 
is applied in a similar manner about two 
weeks later. Both applications are light¬ 
ly harrowed in. The application, of 300 
pounds per acre, of acid phosphate has 
stimulated the growth of clover, rye, bar¬ 
ley and wheat, but thus far direct bene¬ 
fits to the vine cannot bo seen from its 
use. We have sown the phosphate in the 
Spring before plowing by broadcasting. 
Barley, grown with acid phosphate the 
past year, made fully a third greater 
growth than where grown in adjoining 
rows without. 
The use of green crops as soil improv¬ 
ers ought to be more general in sane 
grape growing, and these should be pre¬ 
ferably some of the legumes. But in the 
majority of cases before the latter can be 
successfully grown some of the non-le¬ 
gumes must pave the way. When green 
manuring is practiced the grower should 
make this practice secondary to grape 
growing. The two should not be competi¬ 
tors in any sense of the word. 
F. E. GLADWIN. 
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