AND WINE MAKING. 267 



the gang plows are of great advantage, as the plows can 

 be so arranged as to run close to the yines without 

 breaking the spurs or stakes. 



DISEASES AND INSECTS. 



Of diseases we do not suffer very much here, although 

 mildew (Oidium), black knot, red leaf also called Span- 

 ish Measles, which is the same disease, I think, called 

 Anthracnose in France, and " Pocken des Weinstocks " in 

 Germany, and Coulure, or imperfect setting of the young 

 fruit, prevail to a certain extent. The best remedy 

 against mildew is pulverized sulphur, dusted on the 

 vines through a dredge with a fine wire screen. It is 

 generally applied twice in the season, in June and July, 

 on calm mornings, when a good, active hand can sul- 

 phur about five acres in half a day. About two pounds 

 to the acre is Gufncient, and as it also is a good fertilizer, 

 it will pay to apply it abundantly, though not too late in 

 the season, as it will impart its taste to the wine. 



Black Knot, also called Grape Cancer by some, is a 

 black, warty excrescence, which appears on the stems of 

 the vine and also on its branches. Its main causes are 

 stagnation of sap, caused by external injuries, excessive 

 pruning, or frost. Vineyards judiciously pruned, and 

 not subject to frost, will suffer but little from this dis- 

 ease. With me it has almost entirely disappeared, though 

 it was formerly very frequent, when strong vines, with a 

 good growth of cane fifteen feet long, were barbarously 

 cut back to five spurs of two buds each every year. Any 

 one who prunes his vines so unreasonably, should be 

 punished by having the Black Knot to teach him better 

 sense. 



Where the young growth of a vineyard has been en- 

 tirely killed by a sudden frost when it was in an imma- 

 ture state, so that the vine has no outlet for its flow of 



