GRAPES. 311 



the blue treatment, but we afterwards gave tbem a heavy kerosene emul- 

 sion, which killed them and the trees also. To the Delawares it proved 

 a wonderful preventative to mildew, so giving us a ^11 rounded crop of 

 grapes. But not realizing the necessity of its constant use upon the 

 Concords, the black rot played sad havoc, and I think we lost fully one- 

 third of our crop. Thus ended the second year. 



At the beginning of the third year, the young man who had charge of 

 my place went into business for himself, and I filled the vacancy with one 

 of the graduates of our own agricultural school at St. Anthony Park, a 

 quiet, industrious young man, but an ardent admirer of bugs, worms, etc. 

 Again we began to prepare for battle, throwing up entrenchments, building 

 drawbridges and arming ourselves, not with a barrel sprayer this time, 

 but simply a knapsack and a niuch smaller quantity of ammunition. 

 Again our memories do not need prompting to recollect how spring came 

 upon us last year, the long weeks of cold and almost ceaseless rain, when 

 our liired men, after doing every possible job of work that could be done 

 under cover, waited, waited, waited for warm sunshine and dry weather, 

 until every past record for beginning vineyard work was broken. How 

 gardeners became thoroughly discouraged with planting costly seed and 

 watching it — not grow— but float away to the nearest ravine, thence to 

 the nearest lake. How, when the warmth and sunshine did finally come, 

 the rains did not cease, and earth and air combined to produce a murky, 

 humid atmosphere, very productive of flying, creeping and crawling 

 things. 



When our grapes were finally raised, large buds were already upon 

 them, which the intense heat, closely accompanied with hea^'y showers, 

 forced into a speed of growth, which has never been exceeded in 

 our North west-with every tiny leaf of the Delawares showing mildew al- 

 ready upon it. The caterpillars came also from their incubators with an 

 increase of audacity over last year's crop— great fat, rolicking fellows, 

 with all their wisdom teeth cut and destruction imprinted in every 

 wi'iggle of their ugly bodies. Is it any wonder that my man of war would 

 start with "knapsack strapped upon his back" and wonder which way to 

 fire to do the most effective work? 



For six long weeks nearly every morning the click, click of the little 

 machine came in from the strip of woodland that skirted the red 

 raspberries, and in the afternoon from the vineyard, while at mid- 

 day it occasionally poured fire over the potato patch or apple trees. 

 vSo constant was its use that man and knapsack seemed inseparable 

 companions. Mildew and caterpillars, Bordeaux mixture and London 

 purple were the common themes of conversation; and the war was 

 waged with unremitting energy. It often seemed that we were defeated, 

 and the greatest amount of perseverance was necessary to enable us to see 

 any advance upon the enemy; but, finally, the caterpillar strength was 

 spent, and the clouds left off their endless lowering, and hot days followed, 

 leaving mildew the only foe in sight; and upon this we continued battle, 

 not realizing that again black rot was working upon the Concords to an 

 unpleasant extent. We found this out at harvest time, when our Dela- 

 wares, which had received the greater attention, yielded the most beauti- 

 ful and uniform and plentiful clusters we had yet received, and the Con- 

 cords, while yielding heavily, were sour and unsatisfactory, while those of 



