128 xi:jv south wales. 



producing wines so nearly resembling eacli other from year to year that 

 buyers have no reason to complain in this respect. However^ the large 

 amount of capital locked up in this kind of business increases the cost 

 to the buyer. 



Higher up these rivers the climate is dryer, and in localities favoured 

 with a suitable soil, wines of considerable strength are produced. 



Climate alone will not produce good wine, and, with the exception 

 of the old alluvium^ all the good wines of the Hunter are grown on 

 soil derived from geological formations below the coal-measures. 



The climate of the Counties of Cumberland and Camden is unsuited 

 to wine-growing ; excepting in their most western parts very little 

 good wine is made, and further south the tableland approaches too 

 near to the coast, the heat and tropical rain preventing the slow process 

 of ripening so necessary to the production of wine. 



Those good wines which have been made in Cumberland and Camden 

 are the result of the skill and attention which have been brought to 

 bear ujDon them, and no person unless thoroughly qualified through 

 having made wine in a similar climate, in Europe for instance, should 

 engage in wine-making in these parts. 



PeHs, Diseases, and Treatment. 



In late years the Australian viticulturist has to contend vrith plagues 

 unknown to early colonists. About twenty-five years ago the O'idium 

 Tucheri spread over all the grape producing countries of the globe, 

 and has never left. However, it is now understood, and may be fought 

 by preventive measures. The best known is sulphur applied before the 

 fungoid is visible. Once seen treatment is too late for the spot observed, 

 because the fume of sulphur is only fatal to the germ as it floats in the 

 air, therefore it is in an invisible state that the fungoid can only be 

 successfully fought. During rain and immediately afterwards the 

 spores abound and multiply ; therefore as soon as the leaves are dry is 

 the time to apply sulphur with greatest effect. Treatment should com- 

 mence when the first leaf breaks from the bud, and if the weather is dry 

 at the time, the sulphur will remain effectual for many days, perhaps 

 until rain falls. If applied after every rain until the gi^apes are as large 

 as peas, no injury by Oidium will result. The smallest quantity of 

 sulpliur fume present in the air is fatal to the spores. The quantity 

 required is small. If ten pounds weight could be equally and evenly 

 distributed over an acre it would be as effectual as a hundred weight. 

 Some vignerons mix their sulphur with equal parts finely sifted lime, 

 wood ashes, or even road dust, and this is supposed not only to help 

 to distribute the sulphur but to have a curative effect mechanically. 



Next comes the black spot, or anthracnosis. This is also a fungoid 

 pest, attacking the muscat tribe and several other valuable vines. 

 The treatment is spraying with Bordeaux mixture. Full directions for 

 preparing and applying the remedy will be found in Yol. 2, page 421, 

 of the Ayricultural Gazette. 



The first spraying should be administered when the young shoots 

 are about four or five inches long, and continued every three weeks, 

 or oftcner, if the weather is wet or the black spot appears. Spraying 

 should not be done during the blossoming of the vines, at which "time 

 sulphur should be applied instead. When the berries are formed 



