AND WINE MAKING. 275 



the York-Madeira, and the Rupestris, are considered ex- 

 cellent importations for grafting with French vines. 



" Too much praise cannot be bestowed upon M. La- 

 lande and those associated with him in this journey, un- 

 dertaken as it was, entirely in the interests of fche French 

 vine-growers, and if, as appears more than likely, as the 

 result of their visit, the practice should become general 

 throughout France of replanting with American vines as 

 a means of resisting the phylloxera, the destruction of 

 the French vineyards, which at one time appeared more 

 than possible, may, it now seems more than probable, be 

 averted." 



CHAPTER LIU. 



RESTORING AN INFESTED VINEYARD.-FROSTS. 



But the question may well be asked: "What shall we 

 do with an old vineyard, infested by the insect ? " I have 

 the management of such a vineyard of about seventy-five 

 acres, of which about twenty-five have already succumbed, 

 and I have no faith in the application of any of the insec- 

 ticides that have been tried, believing that the remedy 

 will not be lasting, and will cost more than it is worth. 

 But I believe in the liberal application of manures. 

 This whole vineyard, the crop of which had already 

 dwindled down to twenty thousand gallons in 1882, when 

 I took it in hand, was well manured the next winter. A 

 part of it was treated with stable manure, a part with gas 

 lime, and another portion with ammoniacal liquid from 

 the gas works. I diluted the latter by adding seventy 

 gallons of water to ten gallons of the liquid, and applied 

 about half a gallon of the solution to each vine, making 

 a shallow trench about a foot from the stem. The gas 

 lime I scattered thinly over the surface of the soil, using 

 at the rate of half a gallon to each square of eight feet. 



