JEdltors' Letter Bo.c. 



279 



will pay to plant six 3'eav old Con- 

 cords, if you will take the trouble to 

 dig them carefully. Leave the longest 

 cane on them the}^ have, dig a large 

 hole, lay the old vine Avith its roots 

 well spread out in the bottom of the 

 hole, and bend the young cane in a 

 circle, letting its upper end come out 

 even with the ground, and fill up with 

 well pulverized earth. The 3"onng cane 

 will take root at eveiy joint, and 

 make a strong vine. It is a laborious 

 process, however, and we do not know 

 but it would be more economical to 

 plant good one 3'ear old vines. — Ed.] 



Al'gista, Mo., August 14, 18()9. 



Messrs. Editors: My suggestions 

 referring to a remedy against grape-rot, 

 published in your August number of 

 the Grape Culturist, are based on 

 actual observations. I dug up Catawba 

 vines that were badly rotten, and in 

 every instance found the roots affected. 

 Where the lower roots were buried in 

 stiff clay, the so-called foot of the vine 

 was entirely dead, and the vine lived 

 only by its upper dew roots, widely 

 spread. Others, indeed, had curved to 

 the surface of the ground. These, as 

 well as the dew roots, had their root- 

 lets rotted, and made new shoots. I 

 have an old Catawba vine of twenty 

 years' bearing that never ripened its 

 grapes, which I left only for its shade. 

 Last year, about midsummer, it was 

 ioaded with grapes again, and began 

 to rot. I cut away the dew-roots close 

 to the stem, and found the epidermis of 

 the main root also rotten, which I 

 scraped off. The rot ceased, and I had 

 my first crop of well ripened grapes 

 from it. This year its leaves and 

 grapes are entirely sound. It will be 



easy to find in the above stated facts 

 an explanation of your failure and that 

 of your neighbors fifteen years ago, but 

 I intend hy these communications to 

 excite no theoretical but ^^/T/c^ica/ re- 

 searches. The true and right way to 

 successful grape culture can not be 

 otherwise found, I believe. 

 Respectfully yours, 



Conrad Mallinckrodt. 

 [\Ye are glad to hear from j^ou again, 

 as the suliject is well worth investiga- 

 tion, but we do not think you have as 

 yet proved your position to be a true 

 one. You say that 3'ou found the lower 

 roots of the vines, where the}' entered 

 the stiff clay, entirely dead, and that 

 the vine lived onl>' by its upper roots. 

 In others, you found the lower roots 

 curving to the surface. If this is the 

 case, and you cut oft" the upper roots, 

 how is the vine to live? That the rot 

 stopped in the old vine you mention 

 may be explained by a sudden check of 

 sap, occasioned by the operation. We 

 have often thrown unfruitful trees, and 

 also vineSf into fruitfulness, by taking- 

 out a ring of bark. But whether the 

 vine will ripen its crop, or be fit to 

 bear another next j^ear, remains to be 

 seen. We doubt it very much. Please 

 report (<n its condition next j^ear. We 

 think 3'our letter goes far to prove that 

 vines will root near the surface, and 

 not in the cold subsoil, away from the 

 influence of sun and air. Granting 

 this, it would be murderous to cut off 

 the upper roots. — Ed.] 



COURTLAND, XOKTII ALABAMA, Aug. 13, 1809. 



Messrs. Editors: I have failed to 

 get my Grape Culturist for August. 

 Please send it, as I miss it more than 

 an}- periodical I take. 



