52 THE DISEASES VINES ARE SUBJECT TO. 



on it. I must now describe what I consider took place 

 in the case on hand. The vines made great, strong, 

 young roots in this rich soil late in autumn ; they were 

 not short, branching, fibry roots, but soft, like the roots 

 of some bulb ; and by the time the action of the leaves 

 had ceased, these roots were anything but ripe, and they 

 all perished, during the winter rains, back to the old 

 stem-roots from which they sprang. The vines, never- 

 theless, have a given amount of stored-up sap in them, 

 though they have lost their active roots,. and they are 

 pruned and started, say, the following February. While 

 this stored-up sap lasts they grow vigorously enough, 

 but a period arrives when it is exhausted ; and the new 

 comes but slowly, for the old roots that remain are just 

 beginning, through the action of the foliage, to start 

 into life a fresh set of young ones that are able as yet 

 to supply but little. This takes place when the berry 

 is passing through the stoning period of its existence 

 always a crisis with fruit of any kind ; and the 

 consequence is a thorough failure of the crop from 

 shanking, either resulting directly from want of proper 

 nourishment at this important period, or from some 

 other hidden cause which springs from this want. 

 The crop of fruit is lost as thus described, but the 

 vines seem in good health, and they make strong roots 

 towards autumn, again to share the fate of their 

 predecessors ; and so the round goes on. 



The proper remedy for such a state of things and 

 I have never known it fail where over-cropping was 

 avoided, and the necessary care bestowed on the vines 

 in every other respect is to raise the roots and remove 

 the rich damp soil of the border, replacing it with the 



