Some Grape Troubles of Western New York. 415 



occurs that not a berry remains hanging upon the bunch. In 

 such cases the ground below the bearing portions of the vine is 

 literally covered with the fallen fruit, and from a distance .it 

 presents, in the case of Concords, a strong blue color. 



Some clusters upon a vine seem to be more free from shelling 

 than others upon the same plant. This seems to be due in many 

 cases to its location upon the cane, but there are so many excep- 

 tions that no definite rule can be laid down. In general, however, 

 it may be said that of the clusters found upon a certain cane the 

 one which is situated farthest from the main stem of the plant 

 is most seriously affected. There are many exceptions to this 

 statement, but the majority of cases which I have seen confirm it. 



Another peculiarity which may sometimes be seen, although 

 cases of it are very rare, is the shelling of berries upon only one 

 portion of the vine, as for instance those borne upon the canes 

 which spring from an arm, the difficulty thus affecting only one- 

 half of the plant. Onecase was noticed in which the clusters found 

 upon one cane were the only ones which suffered, amongst all those 

 borne by the vine. The fact that such cases are seldom found 

 would tend to show that they represent a singular phase of the 

 disease, and are produced by some local cause, perhaps varying in 

 the different cases. They cannot be considered as typical of the 

 common form in which it appears. 



It very commonly occurs that plants in certain portions of a 

 vineyard shell, while the large majority of them do not. The 

 line is sometimes so sharpl}^ drawn that the affected plant may be 

 entirely surrounded by healthy vines ; and it is not uncommon to 

 find a healthy vine in the midst of those which shell. Occasion- 

 ally the plants in a row are quite different as regards the amount 

 of fruit which is lost, some retaining all, while others lose fully 

 75 per cent. Such vineyards, however, do not represent the large 

 majority. In these, the shelling is more or less uniform through- 

 out the vineyard, and only in exceptional cases does the loss reach 

 50 per cent, of the crop. The total loss in the " belt " will prob- 

 ably not exceed 5 per cent, of the entire yield this year. 



The taste of shelled grapes differs decidedly from that of those 

 remaining upon the upper portion of affected clusters and still 

 more from that of berries which are borne upon vines in which no 



