io How TO MAKE GRAPE CULTURE PROFITABLE IN CALIFORNIA 



unstirred, to facilitate the escape of moisture after irrigation is dis- 

 continued about the last of June. No matter how the work is done, 

 it should be performed so, that the ground is excessively wet dur- 

 ing June and excessively dry during July and August. This last 

 point should be ascertained, as the young vines would use up but 

 very little moisture. The fourth and fifth year the experiment of the 

 third year should be repeated. After the fifth or sixth year some ot 

 the vine's should be taken up to see if any dead roots are present. 



For vines intended for loose, gravelly soils on hillsides in the 

 coast region such a severe test as the above would not be necessary. 

 A piece of ground of gravelly clay could be selected for the testing 

 plot and then treated in a similar manner, but without irrigation. 

 The test as directed above is according to the climatic conditions 

 of my own locality, the Santa Cruz Mountains ; the same conducted 

 in some other places would need modifications. The vines should 

 not suffer so much during July, August and September, as to be en- 

 tirely stunted and so be unable to make vigorous growth the follow- 

 ing spring. A vine injured so much as not to do this, as is the case 

 when it is badly damaged by the Phylloxera, is not attacked by the 

 disease. To make sure, that a stock entirely overcomes the weak- 

 ness of its Vinifera-top and makes it perfectly immune from attack 

 by the disease, would take a long time, i. e. if healthy scions arc 

 taken for grafting. If such are not taken then the test would be in- 

 adequate. All we can do is to find a hardy root, which corrects as 

 much as possible the faulty tendencies of its Vinifera top, which are 

 excessive spring-growth and lagging activity during the latter part 

 of summer. In what degree this is accomplished can be seen in the 

 course of five or six years, if the above directions are followed. 

 Most anybody with an observing eye will be able to tell in a few 

 years, which will do and which will not. Those, which make the 

 most vigorous growth from the beginning are not necessarily the 

 best, in fact stocks which cause their Vinifera tops to make earlier 

 and more excessive spring-growth like Riparia and Rupestris do. 

 will also increase their susceptibility to the disease. The ideal stock 

 should cause its graft to make later and less vigorous growth dur- 

 ing spring and the leaves of the latter should not lose their healthy, 

 glossy appearance during July and August, nor the even ripening 

 of its fruit come to a standstill. The Lenoir and the Champini come 

 very near having such an effect on their Vinifera top. A perfect de- 

 velopment of the fruit is the best indicator of the hardiness of the 

 root of the vine or its adaptation to existing soil conditions. 



A third and probably the quickest and most efficacious test, if 

 properly and carefully conducted, could be made by grafting on the 

 resistant stocks cuttings taken out of a vineyard in which a good 

 many vines have been killed off by the disease. These cuttings 

 should be taken from the remaining, apparently healthy vines pre- 

 ferably of varieties which succumb very slowly and gradually, but 

 surely, like the Muscat of Alexandria. They should be cut up in 

 scion lengths, then well mixed and grafted on the stocks to be tried. 

 Some vines like Lenoir, Champini and others, whose hardiness is 

 known, should be planted in the same plot for comparison. Such 



