1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



Ill 



method is likely to be quite extensively used by 

 amateur growers, if not for market. 



Seeding the vineyard with oats in the Spring, so 

 that the ground will be well covered with the 

 crop at midsummer, then mowing and leaving 

 it as a mulch on the surface till danger of rot is 

 past, has been practiced by some of our grape 

 growers with good results, especially on rich 

 soils. It is a question whether the covering of 

 herbage operates beneficially simply as a mulch 

 protecting the vine root from the direct heat of 

 the sun and the foliage from reflected heat, or 

 whether the benefit results from the roots of the 

 oat plants drawing oft' surplus moisture from the 

 soil. Experiments will be made the coming 

 season to determine whether mulching with lit- 

 ter or sawdust has the same eff'ect as oats. In 

 one instance seeding the ground with clover and 

 letting it lie without tillage for two seasons was 

 of benefit in preventing rot, but caused serious 

 check to the growth of the vines. In another 

 case a crop of tomatoes growing between rows 

 of grapes, so as to cover the soil, seemed to pre- 

 vent the rotting of the fruit, as on a portion of 

 the rows where the ground was naked the grapes 

 rotted badly. 



Training the vines on flat trellis or poles 

 within a foot or two of the ground, and so as to 

 cover or shade the entire surface, is also said to 

 have secured exemption from rot ; and in one 

 case this result was gained by training vines on 

 poles directly over a small stream of running 

 water. 



Fertilizing the roots of vines with ashes, bone 

 dust and superphosphate, where the soil is rather 

 poor, has been found beneflcial in promoting the 

 growth of vines but not in lessening the ten- 

 dency to rot. Under-draining the soil is also 

 found of no advantage in this respect, as it tends 

 to favor the admission of water from Summer 

 rains and to retain it about the roots, when the 

 aim should be to have it run off the surface as 

 quickly as possible. The best seasons for our 

 grape crop are those having the least rain fall 

 during -June and July. 



Some persons have suspected insect agency of 

 being the cause of the rot, as in many cases the 

 diseased berries have a mark like the puncture 

 of an insect, but these marks are not general, 

 and the closest observers have been unable to 

 find any insect at such work when the disease 

 makes its appearance. Tlie bag remedy is re- 

 ferred to as favoring the insect theory, but other 

 remedies conflict with it, and the bag remedy 



does not conflict with the idea that the cause of 

 the disease is atmospheric. 



It is difficult to adopt a theory on this subject 

 that will harmonize with all the facts observed, 

 and our aim at present is to induce more persons 

 to observe facts and try experiments. When 

 more of this work has been carefully done will 

 be time to theorize. 



Mr. Wm. Saunders, superintendent of the pub- 

 lic gardens at Washington, recommended the 

 covered trellis as a protection from mildew 

 (perinospora), in the Report of the Department 

 of Agriculture for 1861. In a letter written by 

 him last jSTovember, and read by me at our an- 

 nual meeting, after speaking of the want of 

 more systematic observation respecting grape 

 rot, he says : 



" It seems to me that a special commission of 

 practical men should be appointed to visit vine- 

 yards during the Summer of 1879, with a view 

 to more explicit observations on grape rot than 

 we now possess. Isolated observations by dif- 

 ferent parties in different climates, and under 

 different conditions of soils and locations will 

 always prove unsatisfactory. Many apparent 

 contradictions can be reconciled by simultane- 

 ous and systematic observations, and the interest 

 of grape culture would seem to fully justify 

 State appropriations for this purpose. Well 

 directed efforts in this line could not fail of add- 

 ing to our direct knowledge of this disease of 

 the grape." 



A REMEDY FOR THE STRAWBERRY 

 LOUSE. 



BY MR. J. T. LOVETT, CORNWALL-ON-THE-HUD- 



SON, N. Y. 



I read Charles Black's notes on the "Straw- 

 berry Blight," in the January number of your 

 invaluable journal with intense interest, for if 

 the blight continues spreading and no remedy is 

 found it will soon play havoc with the straw- 

 berry crop. Although it never occurred to me 

 that the louse caused the blight until reading 

 Mr. B.'s theory, yet so far as my observations 

 go, I too have always found the louse in greater 

 or less numbers on the roots of plants effected 

 with the blight. The remedy for the destruction 

 of the louse is simply a good dressing of un- 

 leached wood ashes ; early in the Spring, wood 

 ashes as is well known is a superior fertilizer 

 for the strawberry, and from experience I have 

 found it a dead shot to the louse. It must 

 be remembered that the ashes are to be un- 



