Some Grape Troubles op Western New York. 435 



GROUP IV. 

 Conditions of the atmosphere. 



18. Excessive heat. If a very high temperature were the sole 

 cause of grapes shelling, one should expect to find the shelling 

 equally severe in vineyards having a similar exposure ; and those 

 vineyards in which the greatest heat occurred should show the 

 worst shelling. But this is not the case. Some vineyards, and 

 one belonging to Mr. E. H. Fay, of Brocton in particular, are so 

 surrounded by trees that the south wind is the only one which can 

 enter the vineyard freely. Mr. Fay told me that the heat in this 

 vineyard was so intense that it is impossible for the men to work 

 in it, and they are consequently given work elsewhere during the 

 hottest days. The land has a southern exposure, it is protected 

 on the north, west and partially on the east by trees, and it thus 

 forms a pocket in which the heat accumulates sometimes to an in- 

 tense degree. Yet this vineyard did not shell during the past 

 season, with the exception of a small strip along the lower edge in 

 which the soil was heavier and more moist. 



19. A south wind ; 



20. A ivest wind. — These two causes have been advanced as 

 being possibly responsible for the shelling. It has also been said 

 that a north wind stops the trouble. At first thought it would 

 seem that there can be no connection between shelling and the 

 direction from which the wind blows. But, nevertheless, it is 

 not impossible that such a relation* may exist. A wind from the 

 south or from the west is generally warm, and this warmth favors 

 active growth and the development of the fruit. This activity of 

 the plant may well be carried on at the expense of the fruit, 

 especially if the supply of nourishment be limited. A north 

 .wind, being cool, would of course have an opposite effect, and 

 check the plant's development. 



Remedies. — After the above detailed discussion of the possible 

 causes of the shelHng of grapes it would appear that the one 

 cause which appears to lie at the bottom of the trouble is defective 

 nourishment. All influences which aggravate this condition may 

 be held as being indirectly connected with the trouble, and they may 

 even be the exciting cause of it. The drought, for instance, may 



