28 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



trellis, and came out uninjured. Berries large, bunches large, compact, but 

 not always shouldered ; good flavor, ripening with Concord. It is on trial in 

 my grounds and is a vigorous grower'. 



Judge Lawton: How about the time of cultivating vineyards? Have you 

 any rule about this? 



Mr. Edgell : I never cultivate until after blossoming, and my culture is as 

 shallow as convenient. 



Judge Lawton : What implements do you employ? 



Mr. Edgell : First time through, a double shovel cultivator, and the next 

 time a spring tooth harrow. 



Mr. Lannin : Has anyone experience with the Niagara? I have planted 

 some vines and they have made a most extraordinary growth. If they only 

 continue as well as they promise, I have great hopes of the variety. 



Mr. Steele : Black spot and grape rot have played havoc with our vineyard 

 interest in Northern Indiana, and I would like to know if any have had experi- 

 ence here. 



Mr. Winchester, St. Joseph : Black spot has ruined my crops of lona, and 

 has extended somewhat to other varieties. 



President Lyon : I would like to inquire if grape rot in any form has ap- 

 peared at Traverse ? 



Judge Ramsdell : We have no disease there among grapes except mildew, 

 and this we can perfectly control with sulphur put on by means of the bellows. 



Query. When do you apply the sulphur? 



Judge Ramsdell : We aim to do it just before the mildew shows itself upon 

 the leaves. After it is well upon them, sulphur can be of little avail, or, in 

 truth, anything else. But I assure you, gentlemen, the thrips is not afraid of 

 brimstone. 



Mr. Gulley : The lona has been entirely cleaned out in our vicinity at South 

 Haven by mildew and black spot. 



Mr. S. H. Comings followed this discussion with a paper upon 



GRAPE GROWING AND WINE MAKING. 



The grape has seemed to be man's favorite fruit from the earliest time. Its 

 use or abuse has ever been a prominent factor in his moral and material pro- 

 gress. It exerted, we are told, a strong influence in man's race history — when 

 reduced to a single family by the deluge — and at that time a key note was 

 struck, whose vibrations are yet to be heard in the affairs of men. Not only 

 do we find frequent reference to the "vine" and its fruit, in sacred history, 

 but also among the buried ruins of cities of the long silent past are found 

 hieroglyphic etchings, which show the deep interest of those ages in this deli- 

 cious fruit and its juice. The ancient device, so often copied in illustrations 

 of the land of promise, of a single buncK of grapes suspended from a pole 

 borne heavily between two men, give us a hint as to their ideal bunch of grapes. 

 We have nothing to excel this even in our illustrations of "new varieties." 



It may seem strange, after being so long cultivated and shielded by man- 

 kind, there should still be left anything to learn in regard to its habits or best 

 modes of growth ; and at this late day and in our land an insect enemy should 

 be found, which seems to threaten to destroy this valued fruit. But I think 

 there are yet problems in regard to its growth worthy the careful study of most 

 painstaking cultivators; and in its diseases and enemies that which merits the 



