Grafted Vineyards. 565 



Aramon. — What is understood here by Aramon is really a 

 mixture of Aramon x Rupestris Ganzin Nos. 1 and 2. It is to be 

 regretted that this is so, seeing" that the two, on different types of 

 soil, show great variation in growth and are thus responsible for 

 uneven vineyards. It is also possible that the Aramon No. 1, as it 

 is known to-day, is made up of two distinct kinds, and this question 

 will receive further examination immediately. 



In general, the Commission holds the view that Aramon, as mixed 

 as it is, has in most cases proved a success, even though the majority 

 of the vineyards are not uniform. In every case where the large 

 vines had suckers they had either been grafted on Aramon No. 2 or 

 on Seed Rupestris — ^never on Aramon No. 1. On the Karroo soils the 

 vineyards grafted on Aramon are not so uneven. Those on Aramon 

 No. 1 are, if anything, better than those on No. 2. 



The Commission made a careful investigation of some instances 

 of serious deterioration and actual failures of Aramon, both Nos. 1 

 and 2, in the Stellenbosch District. These consisted of Hermitage 

 and Stein Grape, grafted on Aramon and five and ten years old 

 respectively, on a light leddish brown, coarse, sandy hillsicle soil 

 with a gravel layer as sub-soil, which is frequently cemented into an 

 ironstone gravel. The soil is poor, very deficient in humus, and 

 exceptionally porous, so that it retains its plant food wdth difficulty, 

 and in 1916 the vineyard was weakened hy the enormous crop which 

 it liore. The poverty of the soil and the exceptionally heavy cro]) 

 in 1916, coupled with only an average manuring, must be regarded as 

 the chief causes of the vineyard's deterioration. Probably matters 

 were accentuated by the bad winters of 1918 and 1919. The whole 

 vineyard is very poor and gives one the same impressions as an un- 

 grafted vineyard badly infested with phylloxera. Even the vines on 

 the " heuveltjes " are deteriorating. The vines are small, the canes 

 short and weak, while the roots are unhealthy and covered with 

 phylloxera. Many of the roots are already dead. 



That the fault here lies mainly in the soil is shown by the fact 

 that Aramon on neighbouring farms was still doing well, but in 

 such instances the soil was deep and more of a bluish, light sandv 

 soil with more body in it, and thus better able to hold its plant food. 

 In the soil Avhere Aramon did so badly the sand grains were sharp 

 and clean. 



In the Robertson District there was an instance of Hermitage on 

 Aramon, five years old, on stiff Karroo (heavy red loam) which had 

 produced the previous year from 6 to 7 leaguers per 1000 vines 

 (planted 3 feet 9 inches by 3 feet 9 inches), or 38 to 45 leaguers per 

 morgen. Here there was a patch of vines doing badly, and in some 

 cases the vines were actually dead. The roots of the weak vines were 

 covered with phylloxera. The main cause was apparently the large 

 crops, combined with the characteristic difficulty with which the soil 

 is able to absorb water. In ooneral we would like to point out that 

 grafted vineyards which are irrigated are much more susceptible to 

 the attacks of phylloxera M^hen the soil absorbs water with difficulty, 

 and where the vines therefore suffer from drought during the hot, 

 dry months of summer, than in those cases where tlie soil readily 

 absorbs water and the vines do not suffer from drought. In the 

 latter case most stocks will answer w"ll. 



