REPORT OF R C PRIBER COMMISSIONER FOR THE NAPA 



DISTRICT. 



NAPA, December 1, 1892. 



To the Board of State Viticultural Commissioners: 



GENTLEMEN: I herewith submit the report of A. Warren Robinson, 

 containing remarks on the census of Napa County, and the census 

 obtained by him. 



Respectfully, 



E. C. PRIBER, 

 Commissioner for the Napa District. 



NAPA, December 1, 1892. 



To E. C. PRIBER, Viticultural Commissioner for the Napa District: 



DEAR SIR: I beg leave to submit the following viticultural report for 

 Napa County, as per your instructions and formulas furnished. 



Every vineyard portion of Napa County has been visited and inspected, 

 and all the information possible gained bearing on viticultural matters, 

 especially anything of interest regarding resistant vines. 



Since my last report, two years ago, vineyards in this county have 

 been greatly lessened in number and in area, in many portions of the 

 county. Commencing ten years ago in the lower end of Napa Valley, 

 and supposed to have been brought from Sonoma Valley, the phylloxera 

 has spread almost the entire length of the valley in the direction of the 

 prevailing wind. Two years ago a few vineyards in the Napa District 

 and some in the Yountville District were infested. Since that time it 

 has spread with great rapidity. In many cases vineyards of consider- 

 able extent have, in the meantime, almost or wholly disappeared. 

 This will account for the smaller number of vineyards reported this 

 year. 



No remedy to prevent the spread of the disease has been discovered. 

 In no vineyards visited, with the exception of one or two, has there 

 been any special treatment, and this explains why answers to the ques- 

 tion bearing on this matter do not appear. The exceptions mentioned 

 were where a few vines were treated with sulphate of iron, in the propor- 

 tion of one pound of the sulphate to ten gallons of water. This was 

 applied, when the ground was wet, to the stocks, with a swab, with 

 beneficial results. How long this benefit will last is a question time 

 alone will solve. 



In almost every vineyard visited, where the phylloxera has made any 

 headway, the vines were allowed to stand without treatment, the dis- 

 ease taking its course. When the vines were dead, or nearly so, they 

 were pulled up. Rarely have resistants or other vines been set out in 

 their place. In the last two years, very few new vineyards have been 



