142 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



in all parts of the country, iu all conditions and seasons of the growth of all 

 rarieties of vines, and extending over a series of years. This is more than can 

 be expected at present. It is tlic impression that when the circumstances are 

 the most favorable, any and all varieties will be more or less affected by cither 

 -or both of the leading forms of mildew. 



Having given an idea of the nature and extent of the trouble, the practical 

 question of how to meet it naturally arises. 



The answers to question four exhibited no great diversity of o])inion, and for 

 this we can only be thankful. One writer says: "I have used as a preventive 

 the following wash made thus: Set a good oil barrel iu the ground, fill it 

 nearly full with water, add six ^wunds of potash, two gallons of coal tar, one- 

 fourth pound carbolic acid. Use one part of this to three parts of water, 

 applied as follows: The man takes the pail with the wash in one hand, and 

 with a short handled swab passes along the rows, swabbing the stalks of the 

 vines in the crotch of the arms or lower branches. A portion of the wash runs 

 down the stock, is diluted by the rains and carried to the roots of the vine." 



Tlic writer further adds : " Snlpliur, or sulphur and slacked lime, is a cer- 

 tain remedy if properly applied. Early, or as soon as in full leaf, and at 

 intervals of three or four weeks until September. To apply the remedy to the 

 seat of the disease the sulphur should find a lodgment on the under side of the 

 leaves, hence it should be very dry and well pulverized, mixed with a small 

 portion of lime, and applied on a dry still day by putting a portion into a cot- 

 ton bag tied to the end of a stick and thoroughly shaking it among the foliage, 

 or better still if applied with a pair of bellows or some other blowing device," 



Another leading grape grower writes: "I go through the vines most lia- 

 ble to mildew, even before it is observed, and especially if moist hot weather 

 sets in and cover the leaves on both sides with sulphur. Should the mildew 

 appear, I repeat the operation two or three times during the season." He uses 

 a bellows as do several others who have written me on this point. Flour of 

 sulphur used with a bellows early in the season, when an ounce of preventive 

 is worth a pound of cure, followed by a repetition of the process as circum- 

 stances will decide, seems to be the general remedy for the grape mildew. 



Many other substances have been used, some of them figuring largely in the 

 advertisements of horticultural journals. The one now being thus brought to 

 the notice of the public in the columns of the Garden is called Salus, If it 

 does all that is claimed for it the discovery is a very valuable one, but we know 

 of no trials of it this side the waters. 



As the sexual spores reside in the dead and fallen leaves through the winter, 

 it would seem that the collecting and burning of them would do much towards 

 diminishing the disease, Hand-];)icking and burning of the curled and dead 

 leaves as fast as the Pcronoi^jJora produces them, though good in theory involves 

 too much time and labor to be at all practical. 



As all fungi are lovers of moisture and iiourish best where it is quite prevalent, 

 the amount of the grape mildew will largely depend upon the conditions of the 

 weather over which man has very little control. The ])lanting of vineyards in 

 only those localities that are either naturally dry or made so by thorough drain- 

 age will tend to avoid the disease and do good to the vines in more ways than 

 one, "Early and overbearing arc prolific sources of mildew," therefore the 

 sharp edge of the pruning knife will do much to keep away the ]icst. In fact 

 any culture that will secure the most healthy and hardy vines will be the best 

 to prevent the diseases which prey upon them. 



