VINE. 



while the more essential qualities of the grape 

 for \iine fiukirp.', are very much deteriorated. 

 No substance should ever be used which has a 

 tendency to ferment, or which, in undergoing a 

 cOum-dl change in the soil, would form an acid 

 or a salt of a highly stimulating nature. Vege- 

 table manures, bones, cc., may be used to ad- 

 vantage." MV/ rotted stable-yard manure has 

 been used moderately, by the writer, with good 



effects to the plants and the fruit, and without 

 , ble injury to the " vinous quality of 

 the grape." 



any percepti 



/ meets, and Fronts The " rot," as 

 it i* termed, is the great evil, especially in culti- 



.vba. 



akes place usually in the latter end of June 

 or early in July, Dr. Warder says, "about the 

 period of stoning," or " hardening of the seed," 

 after continued heavy rains, and hot sweltering 

 gun*. It strikes, something like the rust in 

 wheat, suddenly, and with the same disastrous 

 clTi-ct to the crop. Various modes of prevention 

 have been recommended, but none yet tried have 

 proved always effectual. 



The cause "is supposed to be an excess of water 

 about the roots of the vine, in any clay subsoil 

 retentive of moisture ; sandy soils with a gravelly 

 substratum, are generally exempt from this 

 disease. 



The opinions of Mr. Elliott, Mr. Longworth, 

 and the Fruit Committee of the Cincinnati Hor- 

 ticulural Society, on this subject, are quoted. 



F.lliott, in the Horticulturist, Vol. 2, p. 

 314, says the rot for the past three years has 

 followed excessive rains in July and August. 

 Dr. Flagg, two years since, found a small part 

 of a vineyard where the rot was very slight. 

 This had not been worked after the spring, and 

 the ground was in such a state, that most of the 

 rains passed off on the surface. Vines planted 

 in rows eight feet apart, in one instance were 

 found to be affected with rot, but very slightly. 

 In the same article, Mr. Longworth says: 

 " It is of late years only, that the rot has been 

 so destructive among our grapes; one thing 

 is certain, if we had little or no rain after the 

 grapes are fairly forward, we should see but 

 little of the rot ; certain it is, that continued rains 

 followed by a hot sun, cause us to lookout for the 

 appearance of the rot." 



He also refers to instances where, in seasons 

 when the rot prevailed extensively, crops es- 

 caped although raised upon a stiff clay sub-soil. 

 In such cases the ground had been left without 

 hoeing, and become so hard baked on the surface 

 as to prevent the min-water from penetrating to 

 th* roots. Under draining will doubtless be 

 f the greatest advantage to vineyards on 

 soils retentive of moisture. See DRAINING. 



. In the able report of Dr. Mosher, Mr. Ernst, 

 and Mr. Kidd, the Fruit Committee of the 

 it is remarked, " some vine- 

 injured by the wet weather in 

 to rot and fall off; this 



however, seems to have been confined to situa- 



the air had not a free circulation, 



allowing fojrsand vapours to remain too long upon 



hot weather, as well as to a tena- 



no'i> rlayysoil; on dry and moreairy situations, 



an 1 wh>re the ground was thoroughly drained, 



thf> crop has be>n fine and fair." 



H. \V. S. Cleveland, of Burlington, N~ J., 

 who has a vim-yard of two to three acres, and 

 who, Mr. Downing says, is one of the most reli- 

 1098 



VINE. 



able horticulturists in the State, recommends 

 covering the whole surface of the vineyard with 

 shavings, leaves, or coarse grass, to prevent the 

 ravages of insects, and diseases of the fruit see 

 Horticulturist, Vol. 3, p. 113. In the same 

 Vol. p. 121, " A Jerseyman," in summer pru- 

 ning, put the leaves and young stems in a trench 

 at the root of the vines sprinkled gypsum 

 on them, and covered over with earth. This was 

 done at the suggestion of Mr. Downing, who 

 strongly recommends it to the vine dressers on 

 the Ohio, with a request that upon trial they 

 " report progress." 



And at page 161, of the same Vol., "B.," 

 "of Chester Co. Pa." recommends "special 

 manures," as a certain specific having tried 

 with success, a mixture of guano, gypsum, and 

 wood ashes. 



Mr. Downing says to " J. D. Legare, Aiken, 

 S. C." in the same Vol. p. 255, We note your 

 experiment with ashes to prevent rot, but you 

 must not decide against it with one year's trial. 

 It has been found effectual here at the north, 

 when used along with gypsum. " 



Two years ago, the writer of this treatise 

 tried ashes on a small scale, but withoiit gyp- 

 sum ; a trench was dug above two rows, the 

 width of a spade, some four inches deep, and 

 two or three inches of leached ashes put in and 

 covered over with earth. No beneficial effect 

 was perceived. The two rows were slightly 

 affected by the rot, as were those adjoining. 



Hoeing in autumn, and not stirring the ground 

 at all in the spring and summer, but keeping the 

 weeds cut down, and the surface smooth, that 

 the water may not sink, but pass off rapidly, 

 has also been spoken of as a probable remedy 

 against rot. 



Some persons even recommend letting the 

 weeds grow ; to say the least of it, this would 

 be slovenly culture. 



With a view to test the advantages of wide 

 planting and high training, in preventing the 

 rot, Mr. Werk has planted on his farm near 

 Cheviot, eleven acres in the Catawba grape, 

 twenty feet apart in the rows each way, and the 

 vines are trained to locust stakes twelve feet 

 high. Last year they produced fruit for the first 

 time, and were entirely free from rot. But here 

 it must be remarked, that the first crop from 

 young vines, is generally but little affected by 

 that disease. Mr. Werk also cultivated the 

 ground between the rows, for other purposes. 



The " mildew" comes earlier in the season, 

 when the grapes are about one fourth grown, 

 blighting occasionally a few bunches, and some- 

 times only the lower end. It is neither common 

 nor destructive. 



The " speck," by some persons mistaken for 

 the rot, and by others called the bitter rot, is 

 a large circular spot on the side of the grape, 

 looking as if caused by the sting of an insect, 

 and extending to the seed on one side of the 

 berry, whilst the other is uninjured ; but owing 

 to this wound, or speck, the juice will be bitter. 

 This has been attributed to the action of the 

 sun on the fruit when covered with rain or dew- 

 drops. 



The vine is so remarkably healthy, and of 

 such luxuriant growth in almost any proper soil, 

 that diseases at the root are almost unknown 

 here. Mr. Schuman states that a white worm 

 rosemblins- the peach tree worm, is sometimes 

 found eating off the young roots of the vine, and 



