416 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



in office, or general unfitness for office. In case of such removal the 

 office shall immediately be filled. 



Sec. 13. Any person, firm, company, corporation, or organization, 

 who shall knowingly pack, or cause to be packed, fruit of the kinds 

 specified herein, in boxes, crates, packages, containers, or subcontainers, 

 to be offered for sale or for transportation for sale, in wilful violation of 

 this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. 



Sec. 14. All laws in conflict with this act or any part thereof are 

 hereby repealed. 



Sec. 15. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this 

 act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional such decision shall not 

 affect the validity of the remaining portions of this act. The legislature 

 hereby declares that it would have passed this act, and each section, 

 subsection, sentence, clause and phrase thereof, irrespective of the fact 

 that any one or more other sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or 

 phrases be declared unconstitutional. — E. J. V. 



Mysterious Vine Disease. — The State Board of Viticultural Commis- 

 sioners, through its executive officer, E. M. Sheehan, is undertaking an 

 investigation of a peculiar vine trouble that has appeared in the Tulare- 

 Fresno grape districts and possibly elsewhere during the last three 

 seasons. The vineyards of these two counties as a whole were never 

 more vigorous nor abundantly fruitful than they were this year, and in 

 strong contrast are the few spots of diseased or failing vines found in 

 scores of vineyards, ranging from a few plants to more than an acre in 

 the worst cases. It does not appear that a thorough examination of this 

 malady has ever been made, but experts have determined that the cause 

 is not Phylloxera, Anaheim disease, fungus or bacteria. These elimina- 

 tions have rendered the attack somewhat mysterious, yet the ravages will 

 go on unchecked if some means of preventing them can not be discovered. 



Early in October the Horticultural Commissioner of Tulare County 

 invited the writer to visit the affected localities, and this survey justified 

 the Viticultural Commission in looking more closely into the trouble. A 

 Aveek later Mr. Sheehan conducted a party of viticultural experts 

 through the districts affected, and later he induced an expert from 

 Washington to examine the vines. Of course, these gentlemen could not 

 locate the cause of the disease or condition without a serious examina- 

 tion, and thus far no funds seem available to make the long series of 

 experiments so necessary in cases of this kind. But the Viticultural 

 Commission, in cooperation with the university and the State Horticul- 

 tural Commission, is determined to see the matter through, and is now 

 casting about for the means with which to do it. Further information 

 will be given if developments follow, as the same trouble may appear in 

 other localities not heretofore affected. 



An outbreak in the large vineyards near Dinuba is typical of many 

 others, and affects the plants in the following manner: The stricken 

 vines begin the season's growth with normal vigor, with a full develop- 

 ment of the canes, and for several weeks no unusual appearance can be 

 detected. About midsummer the full-grown canes lose all their leaves, 

 and shortly a small, sickly leaf appears at each axil, remaining till late 

 in the fall. Meantime, the fruit has failed to mature and withered away. 

 The second season the malady has sickened the vines and during this 



