RESISTANT VINES; THEIR SELECTION, ADAPTATION, ETC. 13 



Vinifera to resist the attacks of the phylloxera for several years before 

 perishing, it is not possible for a young, partly rooted, non-resistant 

 vine to live any length of time when planted in soil that is already 

 infected with the insect and somewhat exhausted from years of cultiva- 

 tion. Some imagine that it would be economical to plant the Viniferas 

 in the same place that the dead vine occupied, expecting to get two or 

 three crops from the vine before it perishes. This is a common error 

 in countries infected with the phylloxera, especially at the beginning of 

 the trouble. It has been tried over and over again in all the countries 

 where the vineyards have been destroyed, and, even with many pre- 

 cautions, such as allowing the land to rest for several years, etc., it has 

 ahuays proved a heavy financial loss, even in the richest soils and with 

 the most vigorous varieties. 



I do not know of a single case, out of the great number of experiments 

 of this sort, that has not proved disastrous from a financial standpoint, 

 even in countries where the value of the crop is greater than in Cali- 

 fornia. The difference in cost between planting on resistant roots and 

 planting on non-resistant roots is so insignificant that, taken with the 

 certainty of having, sooner or later, to go through the same operation of 

 replanting, renders planting non-resistants a most foolish thing to do. 



Influence on Growth and Crop. It is to be noted, too, that when a 

 Vinifera has been grafted on a variety of resistant vine, perfectly adapted 

 to soil, climate, stock, etc., it will produce heavier crops, sweeter and better- 

 matured grapes, of larger size, than the Vinifera would produce on the same 

 soil were there no phylloxera at all. This alone, aside from the certain loss 

 of capital in the future, would more than pay for the extra expense of 

 planting on resistant roots. When it is observed that a vineyard 

 planted on resistant vines does not produce fully as much as the same 

 varieties did under similar circumstances on non-resistant roots, the 

 conclusion must be that it is not the fault of the resistant itself, but that 

 the wrong adaptation to soil, etc., has been made, just as would obtain if 

 the wrong variety of Vinifera were planted on the same soil. Failures, 

 then, in plantations on resistant roots merely show that the vine-grower 

 has made a mistake which he can rectify by the exercise of a due amount 

 of study and intelligence. 



Influence on Quality of Wine. It was for a long time asserted that 

 the wine made from Viniferas grafted on the resistant stock was of 

 inferior quality, or would in time acquire some of the disagreeable 

 characteristics of the American grape. Time has proved that the qual- 

 ity of the wine is only affected in so far that perfectly matured grapes 

 give a better product than those imperfectly matured; and as the grapes 

 from grafted vines are, as a rule, better matured than is usually the 

 case on non-resistants, the results are in favor of the grafted vine. It is 

 also to be noted that grafted vineyards are less apt to coulure, or the 

 dropping of the young grapes. 



Extra Expense of Resistant Stock. It is true that the resistant vines 

 require more care to get them started than the Viniferas, and therein lies 

 one of the heaviest counts against the use of resistant stock. The extra 

 time and expense of grafting and cultivation before the vineyards pay 

 are certainly drawbacks; but as things stand to-day, he who would have 

 a vineyard must encounter resolutely such extra care and expense, or 

 leave the field for some one else who is willing to do the work properly. 



