STATE HORTICULTURAL SOOTETY. 83 



the thumb and finger are all that is needed ; this slaughtering of the vine 

 in the summer will induce disease and death to come into your vineyard. 



Mr. Johnson — How about the success of grape growing around 

 Cincinnati ? 



Dr. Warder — We do not grow grapes any more on the banks of the 

 Ohio ; we can't do it. 



Mr. Starr — I have fifty acres of grapes on my place, and have some 

 experience in this business. The canes that are to ]jroduce fruit next 

 year should be let alone ; the fruit-bearing cane should be j^inched in 

 when the vine shows the second bunch of grapes. This is done early ; 

 no summer pruning pther than this is needed. 



Mr. McWhorter — I think I must have been misunderstood. My 

 practice is not to " cut and slash," but to take off the tips of the growing 

 canes. I do not advise indiscriminate slaughter in the vineyard. I think 

 my practice enables the vines to ripen their wood early, and they stand 

 the winter better for this, besides it hastens the ripening of the fruit. 



Mr. Starr — I am very sorry to hear that our Cincinnati friends 

 have given up growing grapes. Our friend Riley, of Missouri, has dis- 

 covered the cause of failure in grape-growing, and I am sorry that he is 

 not here to tell us more about it. I think the time will come when our 

 Ohio friends will renew their efforts in the grape business, and will be suc- 

 cessful. I hear that the grape insect has reached California, and that 

 whole vineyards are destroyed. Prof. Rilev says sandy land is the most 

 favorable, for the reason that the Phylloxera can not work to advantage 

 in sand ; and also there are certain varieties that are seldom attacked by 

 the insect. 



Dr. Warder — Millions of cuttings are in demand in France, of 

 these hardy varieties that are not affected by the insect. One man told 

 me that he had received an order for the cuttings of all his Clintons, but he 

 would not send them for the reason that they were badly affected by the 

 grape insect. We know that the leaves of the Clinton are worst affected 

 of all, and I would be afraid of this variety. It does not promise ex- 

 emption from this disease. 



Prof. Thomas — There are some points in regard to which I am in 

 doubt. I have not had the opportunity to study up this insect as Prof. 

 Riley has, yet I am inclined to believe that they are not as injurious on 

 sandy soils as on clay, and that they are less injurious in California, and in 

 Utah; but I am in doubt as to there being some varieties which this 

 Phylloxera will not attack. We shall know more about this by and by. 



