8 June, 1908.] Viticidfurc in Europe. 353 



FOURTH PROGRESS REPORT ON VITICULTURE 



IN EUROPE. 



{Co]itinued from page 3-o.) 



F. de Castella. 



Reconstitiitioii in Spain. 



The Jerez or Sherry District [nuitiinu'd). 



Resistance to Phvlloxera of Vinifera-Americans. 



This has long been considered an uncertain quantity and from the 

 time of tlieir tirst use on a large scale caution was recommended by 

 leading French authorities whose study of the action of phylloxera 011 the 

 rootlets of these vines grown in pots and their microscopical observations 

 of the lesions caused by the insect led them to doubt the permanency of 

 their resistance. These fears do not appear to have been justified by 

 events and it is in this connection that the experience of Jerez is perhaps 

 most interesting to us, for its soils, especially those of the Afuera type, 

 are ones in which the action of phylloxera is most severely felt and those 

 where the death of the vines occurred within a remarkably short time after 

 the first appearance of the insect. 



Both the soil and climate of Jerez are such as to lead one to conclude 

 that if the resistance of these hybrids were to prove insulificient anywhere 

 it would be here, and yet after their use on a large scale for over ten 

 years they have given entire satisfaction in all but a very few soils, and 

 in these trouble was not due to want of resistance to phylloxera. 



Further evidence that the resistance of the best of these stocks is 

 sufficient for all practical purposes was afforded at the International Viti- 

 cultural Congress held at Angers last July, where one of the Spanish 

 delegates, Don Nicolas Garcia de I-os Salomones, asked all the assembled 

 delegates to inform the Congress " if after nearly twenty years during 

 which these (Franco- American) hvbrids have been everywhere experimented 

 with, there has. to their knowledge, occurred a well marked case of injury 

 by phylloxera. '' A verv interesting discussion resulted, in which several 

 of the leading authorities took part. The good qualities of the best 

 known Franco- Americans were further emphasised and of the numerous 

 members present, including delegates from all the leading vine countries 

 of the world, not one rose to impugn the resistance of the Franco- Americans 

 of proved value. The popularitv of these stocks seems to be abundantlv 

 justified and the success which has followed their use in the warmer and 

 drier parts of Spain augurs well for a great future for them witli us. 



Bench Grafting or Vineyard Grafting. — In Southern Spain, as 

 also in Portugal, bench grafting is seldom practised. It has been tried 

 by several proprietors and is recommended by most of those whose viti- 

 cultural knowledge is derived from French sources, but the great majority 

 — practically the totalitv of the vinevards of Jerez — are reconstituted by 

 means of vineyard grafting. Their proprietors hold ^■erv oronnurced \iews 

 on the question and all those met with were strongly in favor of the vine- 

 yard graft. At Castello de Macharnudo. comparative experiments on a 

 large scale have been carried out and, although plots reconstituted In- 



5469. M 



