582 [ DISEASES OF THE VIN*. 



colour, and their pulp becomes brown ; then they drop 

 off or may remain attached to the bunch. 



The tissues of the young shoots are also affected by 

 the disease, greyish blotches are formed on them, which 

 later on become reddish brown. The parasite does not 

 penetrate into the woody tissues, but the shoots remain 

 weak and are easily broken. The bark of the green 

 shoots sometimes becomes fissured, and in this case the 

 fructifications of the fungus appear as whitish tufts along 

 the margin of the fissures. 



The virulence of the disease is variable from year to 

 year, being greatest in wet springs, and during spells of 

 light south or south-east winds with calm dewy mornings, 

 the most dangerous period running from the moment 

 that the flowers are about to bloom until the berries are 

 well set and have reached the thickness of 3 m.m. 

 Should the weather prove favourable to the development 

 of the fungus, the crop can be saved or partly saved only 

 by a careful and oft-repeated use of remedial measures ; 

 but if the spring is a dry one and the flowering period, 

 coincides with a spell of cool and dry northernly winds 

 then the havoc will be reduced to a minimum, and may 

 pass almost unnoticed. However this favourable circums- 

 tances should not lull the grower into a false sense of 

 security and induce him to abandon or postpone the 

 remedial measures which he was about to carry out, as 

 the weather may change at any moment. 



Certain sorts of European vines are more resistant 

 than others to this disease, and this fact is more notice- 

 able in 'years of comparatively slight attacks, when the 

 more resistant sorts remain practically immune. Most 

 American and hybrid- American vines are practically 

 immune even in years of great virulence, but the grower 

 should apply at least one spraying with Bordeaux mix- 

 ture, or one dusting with sulphur containing 3 to 5 per 



