74 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



when others are destroyed. Two varieties may also be named which are really 

 fine, and which only require winter protection to be grown as easily, arid in 

 most places as certainly, as the Concord. These are Brighton and Jefferson. 

 I have grown these varieties since their first introduction; and with me they 

 are vigorous in growth, healthy in foliage, very productive, bearing large and 

 handsome clusters, which rank among the best in quality. Wherever there is. 

 a market that appreciates, and will pay for fine grapes, I believe it will be 

 found much more profitable to grow these fine varieties, with the little addi- 

 tional trouble and expense of giving winter protection. The other difficulty 

 which renders some of the fine varieties hard to grow, the mildew, is not so 

 easily overcome; but I have found that sulphur and quicklime in equal parts, 

 blown upon the foliage of the Delaware, early in the season, upon the very 

 first indications of mildew, has always arrested and prevented its spreading to 

 any serious extent; and vines so treated have ripened their wood and fruit well, 

 even in unfavorable seasons. Another difficulty with the Delaware may be 

 mentioned — its tendency to overbear. It will often set double the grapes it can 

 bring to maturity, and, unless they are promptly thinned out, the present crop 

 will be lost, and the vine enfeebled for years to come. 



A few other fine varieties among the hybrids of more recent introduction, 

 may be mentioned, which are partially tender in winter, and also subject to. 

 mildew in unfavorable seasons; and to grow these successfully, not only winter 

 protection but remedies for mildew of the foliage would have to be applied. 

 Among these are Croton, Duchess, Senasqua; and the Prentiss would probably 

 come under the same class. Recent experiments in the vineyards of France 

 render it probable that an effectual remedy for tbe mildews which affect the 

 foliage of tbe grape has been discovered in the use of lime, combined with the 

 sulphates of copper and of iron; and if these applications should prove as 

 efficacious in this country as they are claimed to have beeu in France, the 

 greatest difficulty in growing fine varieties of grapes will have been removed. 

 The mixture which has proved so satisfactory in foreign vineyards is as follows: 

 Dissolve 1? lbs. sulphate of copper (blue vitriol of commerce) in 22 gallons of 

 water. Mix also 34 lbs. of stone lime in seven gallons of water. Pour the two 

 mixtures together, and stir thoroughly. The French vineyardists sprinkle the 

 foliage once, early in the season, using small whisk brooms, not covering the 

 leaves, but striving to have each leaf touched by the mixture. One application 

 was found sufficient, if made before the appearance of the mildew; and rows 

 in the same vineyards so treated remained healthy, while the same varieties in 

 alternate rows not treated, were so badly mildewed as to lose their foliage, and , 

 entirely failed to ripen their fruit. Another remedy called Poudichard's mix- 

 ture, is used in powder, and dusted upon the leaves by means of an ordinary 

 sulphur bellows, or any other sprinkling device. This should also be applied , 

 early in the season, before the mildew has progressed to any extent, for all such 

 application are preventives, and not cures. The mixture is made as follows : 

 225 lbs. quicklime; 45 lbs. sulphate of copper; 20 lbs. flour sulphur; 30 lbs. 

 wood ashes, unleached. Dissolve the copper' in 15 gallons water; pour this, 

 solution upon the lime, surrounded by the ashes to keep the liquor from spread- 

 ing. Twenty-four hours afterward add the sulphur, and mix all thoroughly. 

 When dry, sift through a course sieve. The preparation may be made some 

 months before wanted; and should be applied as above directed, when the 

 foliage is wet with dew, or after a rain. These remedies will doubtless be thor- 

 oughly tested the present season, in this country, and there is reason to. believe, 



