SECRETAIlYtt PORTFOLIO. 301 



2. Tho disease has been more i)rcvalciit for three or four years past tliau 

 formerly, and affects varieties that before had been exempt; but tlic increase 

 has not been reguhxr or uniform as to locations or extent. It is worse in the 

 southern and central parts of the state than near the lake or on the islands. 



3. Old vines, such as have been in bearing six to ten years, are more 

 subject to the rot than younsfer ones, and thrifty vines more tlian those of 

 moderate growtli. 



4. Rich soils, especially if dark or mucky, and such as retain the water of 

 summer showers, are worse than hard clay lands of moderate fertility, 

 especially if the latter are sufficiently sloping to cause water to run off quickly. 



5. Fertilizing the vineyard with ashes, bone dust, superphosphate, etc., has 

 not proved advantageous in preventing rot, but promotes the growth of vines. 



6. Heavy rains in June and July are almost sure to bring a visitation of 

 rot, especially when accompanied by hot and '^ muggy" weather — low baro- 

 meter and still atmosphere; while a dry summer, with pretty constant winds, 

 gives exemption from the disease. 



7. The disease is liable to manifest itself at any time from the setting of 

 the fruit until its full size; not merely at tho latter period, as some writers 

 have stated. 



8. Kotting has been prevented by a coping formed of two wide boards 

 placed on top of the trellis in the form of a roof, so as to shed off the rain 

 and protect the vines largely from dew. Vines are also exempt from rot 

 when trained on the east or south side of buildings, where the cornice mostly 

 shelters from wet. 



9. Seeding the ground in spring with oats or rye, so as to cover the v/hole 

 surface during midsummer, and mowing the crop before ripe, leaving it as a 

 mulch till the grapes ripen, is found useful as a partial protection from 

 rot. It has also been found that a row of thrifty tomato plants, growing be- 

 tween rows of grapes, saved the latter from rotting, while those where the 

 ground was naked rotted badly. 



In at least one instance vines trained over a small stream of living water 

 escaped rot the past summer, while those in the same garden not thus situa- 

 ted mostly rotted. 



11. A grape grower near Dayton finds benefit from training his vines so 

 that all the young shoots and most of the foliage shall be on the upper wires 

 of the trellis, but the fruit on the middle or lower wire, and the leaves pretty 

 well thinned there; so that the fruit shall be largely protected from rain and 

 dew, and also have circulation of air beneath. By this and the oats mulch he 

 has mostly escaped rot the past two years, while others in his section suffered 

 badly. 



13. Covering the clusters of fruit with paper bags from the time the berries 

 are fairly set until ripe, lias been practiced with perfect success by amateur 

 grape-growers at Cincinnati for two years past, one of them saving over 7,000 

 fine clusters in. that way, not only from the rot but also from the mildew and 

 birds; and it is claimed that the fruit is finer in size, color and quality, than 

 when grown in the ordinary way where disease does not prevail. The bags 

 used are of the kind used by grocers, costiiig only about 82 per 1,000. The 

 ^ize preferred is 6 by 9 inches ; they are slipped over the clusters, and the tops 

 folded around the stems, leaving space for the fruit to develop, then fasten 

 with two pins. The bags will serve for two seasons if well made ; and the entire 

 cost, including labor, is estimated at one-third of a cent per cluster. Quite a 



