SELECTION AND HYBRIDISATION OF A^klERICAN VINES IN ITALY I395 



failures are easily explained by the phenomenon so well described by 

 Prof. Orazio Comes, director of the College of Agriculture at Portici : 

 " A j^ilant cultivated in a climate different from that of its native country- 

 preserves, and ma}' even increase, its original resistance to injurious con- 

 ditions if it has been transplanted to a colder climate " ; on the contrary 

 it gradually loses this resistance in proportion to increased warmth in the 

 climate, (i) 



It is undoubtedly easier and more expeditious to introduce into a 

 country plants which have alreadj* been tested elsewhere, than to select 

 the native plants, but the results are often less satisfactory. D. Frede- 

 Rico Paulsen (2), director of the American Vine Nursery at Palermo, 

 has stated, during the course of a vigorous and impartial enquir^^ in the 

 vineyards of Sicily, that the American vines with which many vinej'ards 

 have been replanted are often less productive than native vines planted in 

 identical conditions, and that the reconstituted vineyards do not last as long 

 as the old vineyards of Vint f era planted as a self bearer. On the contrarv^ 

 in France the new plants produce abundantly ; it is not unusual to ob- 

 tain 1800, 2200 even 2700 gallons of wine per acre especially in the south 

 with the vine Aramon. It is evident. Dr. Paulsen states, that the lesser 

 production obtained in Italy is contrary to the facts observ-ed in France 

 where reconstitution was first started, and where the serious problems 

 which it entails have been largely studied. 



The Italian ]\Iinistry of Agriculture was naturally troubled at the 

 deca}' of the vineyards replanted with stocks imported from France and 

 in 1914 it was decided to revert to the previous methods. The institu- 

 tions under government control were ordered to undertake experimental 

 work with the object of producing indigenous stocks, which would be more 

 suited to local conditions and would possess more aifinity for grafting with 

 the local vines. The directors of the schools of vine-growing and vine- 

 making, of the agricultural colleges, of the American vine nurseries, as 

 well as the technical experts at the head of the anti-ph^dloxera associa- 

 tions (" Consorzi antifillosserici ") welcomed with enthusiasm this new 

 coiuse, the adoption of which had been previously urged in vain b}' many 

 of them. The work is now carried on with much activity in the above 

 named institutions, in fact in some of them it had never been interrupted. 

 As the greater part of this new work has only just started, results can only 

 be given by those institutions, or individuals, who had undertaken the 

 work in the earlier period and had never entirely relinquished it. The 

 selection of vines has in some cases been carried on for several years for 

 the experiments with them were still conducted in spite of the regulations 

 to the contrary which were in force for some time. It is possible to state 



(i) Prof. O. Comes, La Profilassi, nella patologia vegetale. Riali- Islituto d'inctnai^i^ia- 

 mcnto di Napoli, pp, 19 Naples, Coopcrativa tipografica. Sec also Z?. August 1916, No. 937 . 



(2) Dr. F. Paulsen, Risultati cklla ricostituzione iu Sicilia. Ammaestnimenti del pas- 

 sato e consigli per I'avvenire. Relazione i)resentata al Congrtsso dci viticultori siciliani 

 tenutosi a Noto il 24 agosto 1914. Palermo, Tipografia G. Di Giorgi, 1914. 



