502 The Mildcio and the Hot in the Grape. [November, 



also a mixture of sulphur aud dry quiekiime, in the same manner — 

 and again by sprinkling dry sulphur upon the ground under the 

 vines after the appearance of mildew and rot, all with marked benefit 

 in arresting the progress of disease. 



It is to be hoped that next year numerous experiments will be 

 tried, by the free use of these substances in various forms, and ap- 

 plied to the vines and fruit immediately after the fall of the blossom, 

 and before the mildew makes its appearance — and by coating the 

 berries with a layer of some of these preparations, it is very prob- 

 able the spores or germs of fungous plants will be prevented from 

 growing upon them. A repetition of the remedy every eight or ten 

 days, until the seeds of the grape become somewhat hardened, would 

 add to the security of the crop. This may all be done by a moderate 

 outlay of labor and expense, which would be amply remunerated 

 should it prove successful in its results. 



In regard to the practicability of pursuing the grape culture, as a 

 remunerative crop, in view of the casualties to which it is liable in 

 this climate, it is evident that like all other agricultural pursuits, 

 depending upon so many contingences that it is difficult to arrive at 

 any very definite estimate as to the profits of the business. 



From the knowledge derived from the culture of a vineyard for 

 the last fifteen years, together with the statements of a large number 

 of cultivators who have been longest engaged in the business, we do 

 not hesitate the assertion that it has proved a remunerative crop in 

 this vicinity, notwithstanding the casualties to which it is liable — 

 varying like all other crops, according to the skill with which it is 

 conducted and the economy practiced. Most of those who have 

 engaged in the business and conducted it under their personal su- 

 pervision, have made very fiivorable reports as to the profits — stating 

 .that a medium crop once in two years and a full crop once in three 

 years, will pay better than the same expenditure bestowed upon any 

 other agricultural product. It is believed however, that considerable 

 improvement might be made in the profits of the business by plant- 

 ing and cultivating several kinds of crop instead of all catawba which 

 is now almost exclusively cultivated. The Schuylkill, or Cape, as it is 

 erroneously called — the Venango, or Miners' Tennessee, and the Isa- 

 bella are all of a more hardy constitution than the Catawba, and each 

 of them make a good wine, and this season are loaded with a good crop, 

 where the Catawba has almost entirely foiled. Some years the reverse 



