THE LEAVES OF THE TREE W6T6 FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS. 



37 



But every vine, like other plants, is subject to certain conditions of soil, climate 

 and atmosphere for its welfare. Any vine or any other plant may be planted 

 where from unfavorable conditions it will not flourish, and where a slight addition 

 to the adverse influences may cause it to either die or maintain only a feeble 



existence The resistant vines are no exception to this general rule. 



They have been planted and expected to yield satisfactory results, where vines 

 have been fruited for twenty or thirty years without the use of a particle of man- 

 ure, and where, as a result, the old vines as well as the new "resistant" ones 

 have died from sheer inanition. They have been planted where no vine ever 

 should be. (And hence the existing phylloxera trouble). 



THE PHYL.LOXERA QUESTION. 



" That this is a serious one, likely to effect our industry in all its branches, will 

 hardly be denied by anyone. If we look at the devastated vineyards in Europe, 

 if we consider the ruin it has brought to thousands of formerly happy and con- 

 tented homes in France, how its ravages have decimated this leading industry, HO 

 that now they do not produce wine enough for their own consumption, but buy 

 where they formerly almost supplied the world ; how its ravages are already felt 

 in Algiers, in Austria, and wherever vines are grown we will hardly question 

 that it is the great disaster threatening everywhere, including this continent. 

 Indeed, we have evidence sufficient of its destructiveness in this State, it will make 

 itself seen and felt, and no mechanical or chemical means have as yet been found 

 that are of real practical value. All the insecticides that have so far been tried 

 have proved too costly and impractical in their application." 



COMPARATIVE RESULTS. 



Since the issue of Prof. Husmann's first work from which I have also 

 quoted, adverse climatic conditions have been steadily increasing through- 

 out America from the cause already stated. In proof of which , extracts 

 from the respective works in parallel positions, with regard to California 

 somewhat testifies : 



"American drape Growing and Wine 

 making," November 9th, 1883. 



" A visit to this shore in the summer 

 of 1881 convinced me that this was the 

 true home of the grape, and that Cali- 

 fornia with her sunny and dry summers 

 and her mild winters, was destined to be 

 the wine land of the world; that prom- 

 ised land where everyone could sit under 

 his own vine and fig tree. Disease of 

 the vine are here comparatively un- 

 known, the rainless summers, when no 

 showers are expected from May until 

 September, allow nearly all the crop to 

 ripen every year. . . . These favor- 

 able climaltic conditions simplify the cul- 

 ture and training of the vine, the gath- 

 ering of the fruit, and the operations in 

 wine making. ... In this climate 

 it becomes possible that one man can 

 own and superintend hundreds of acres 

 of vineyard." \ 



Now, in 1893, Calif ornian vineyards are rapidly becoming hopelessly 

 diseased. 



'* American Grape Growing and Wine 

 Making," November 20th, 1887. 



Apologizing for the delay in the issu- 

 ing of his new work, Prof. Husmann 

 wrote : "I hoped to complete it before 

 the vintage so that it could be of some 

 use perhaps during its progress. But 

 unavoidable delays have drawn it out to 

 the end of the vintage of this truly ab- 

 normal year, abnormal in its late and 

 destrucrive frosts, its hot winds during 

 summer causing a great deal of coulure, 

 and its unusally hot weather during the 

 vintage, It has been one of the most 

 difficult seasons to handle a vineyard 

 and wine cellar which will ever occur 

 here I trust, and has taught us many 

 and severe lessons." 



