VINE MILDEW. 125 



imagine that this was exceptional or confined to a few feet ; for in 

 every part of his garden, which is of considerable extent, the 

 branches resting on the ground presented the most beautiful 

 appearance, as also the bunches which they bore.* Is not this 

 a new argument in addition to a thousand others against the 

 notion of a morbid alteration in the vine anterior to, or promotive 

 of the invasion of the parasite ? In truth, on this hypothesis 

 how can we explain the facts which I have just related ? 



The following, observed last October at Beaumont Sur Oise is 

 not less conclusive, viz., that of an espalier exposed entirely to 

 the east, half of which was completely destroyed by the Oidium, 

 while the other half in the most vigorous state of vegetation bore 

 magnificent clusters. I pass on to certain practical methods 

 recommended for the annihilation of the disease, viz., cutting 

 down, incision at the foot of the stem, washing and rubbing the 

 trunk, and finally cutting off the plant on a level with the soil. 



According to M. Bouchardat the first is useless. The second 

 recommended in Italy by M. Guida, of which the worthlessness 

 was established in the very same locality, Dulgazo, by Victor 

 Reudu, has not succeeded better, as reported by Louis Leclerc, in 

 the hand of our cultivators. 



Late pruning, according to Bouchardat, is preferable to 

 autumnal pruning. 



The washing the stems, especially with lime water, and friction 

 are not to be despised in cultivation on a small scale. Baron 

 Seguier communicated last July to the Agricultural Societj' a fact 

 which had occurred to himself, and which comes in support of this 

 practice. 



As regards the cutting off the plants on a level with the 

 ground, it has been tried in Herault by M. Camille Cambon. 

 Mohl, who has established its uselessness in Venice, and denounces 

 it as showing the fatal influence which preconceived notions of the 

 causes of the disease have had on the subject, speaks of it as 

 follows : — " It is of immense practical importance to give currency 

 to this view, since tVie proprietors fancied that they had a remedy 

 against the disease in cutting the vines down to the ground, and 

 the consequent renovation of the shoots, a process, however, 

 which entailed a certain loss for some years. "f This practice has 



* This confirms the law established by M. Bouchardat. Other things 

 beinc; equal, the nearer the gi-ound, the less subject is the vine to infection. 

 M. Keller (// Bianco del grappoli,-p. 17) has made the same observation at 

 Padua . 



•j- Les Maladies d^s pommes de terre, des betferaves, des hies et des vir/nes 



