isture in
his land so that the mineral salts may be readily dissolved and so
become available as plant-food; that far too much importance has been
attached to putting chemicals in the soil and too little to the
physical condition of the soil, whereby the work of bacteria and the
solvent action of organic acids may make available plant-food that
without these agencies is unavailable.

These brief and simple statements introduce to grape-growers some of
the problems with which they must deal in fertilizing grapes, and show
what a complex problem of chemistry, physics and biology fertilizing
the soil is; how difficult experimental work in this field is; and how
cautious workers must be in interpreting results of either experiment
or experience. An account of an experiment in fertilizing a vineyard
may make even more plain the difficulties in carrying on experiments
in fertilizing fruits and the caution that must be observed in drawing
conclusions.

AN EXPERIMENT IN FERTILIZING GRAPES

The New York Agricultural Experiment Station is experimenting with
fertilizers for grapes at Fredonia, Chautauqua County, the chief grape
region in eastern America. The experiment should be of interest to
every grape-grower from several points of view. It not only shows that
there are many and difficult problems in fertilizing grapes, but also
the results of the use of manure, commercial fertilizers and
cover-crops in a particular vineyard; it suggests the fertilizers to
be used and the methods of use; and it furnishes a plan for an
experiment by grape-growers who want to try such an experiment and
draw their own conclusions. An account of the experiment and the
results for the first five years follows:[10]

_Tests at Fredonia._

"In the vineyard at Fredonia eleven plats were laid out in a section
of the vineyard where inequalities of soil and other conditions were
slight or were neutralized. Each plat included three rows (about
one-sixth of an acre) and was separated from the adjoining plats by a
'buffer' row not under test. One plat in the center of the section
served as a check, and five different fertilizer combinations were
used on duplicate plats at either side of the check. Plats 1 and 7
received lime and a complete fertilizer with quick-acting and
slow-acting nitrogen; Plats 2 and 8 received the complete fertilizer
but no lime; on Plats 3 and 9 potash was omitted from the complete
fertilizer combination; Plats 4 and 10 receiv