succession of multiplications by cuttings. 

 They furnish, also, for the graft, subjects 

 much more, vigorous and of longer life than 

 those which it is possible to obtain in any 

 other way." 



But we are in danger of losing many vari- 

 eties by natural decay, without counting the 

 effects of phylloxera. Mr. Dejernon says : 

 " We have no longer the varieties which 

 yielded the great wines of antiquity; the/wr- 

 ttiint of Tokai, the sirrah of the Hermitage, 

 have lost their force and vitality ; therefore, 

 varieties disappear. Pliny could find no 

 longer the plants cultivated in the time of 

 Cato ; neither could Olivier de Serres those in 

 honor in the time of Pliny ; and we ourselves 

 have lost more than the half of the varieties 

 described by La Quintinie." 



THE BUD SEEDLING. 



The same author describes the invention 

 of a peasant, Hudelot, which has proved a 

 success. It combines the idea of a seedling 

 and a cutting. In the Fall or Winter, 

 healthy, vigorous canes of the vine are se- 

 lected ; each bud, or eye, that appears well 

 developed, is separated by cutting the stem 

 across, leaving a section about an eighth of 

 an inch on each side of the eye. In the 

 Spring these buds are planted just as seeds 

 are, in light soil, about an inch and a half or 

 two inches deep . The result is claimed to 

 be a vigorous plant, partaking of the unity 

 between roots and upper growth that the 

 seedling exhibits, and at the same time pre- 

 serving the exact type or variety of vine. 



Dr. Duyot, in his work on the vine, com- 

 mends this plan of reproduction. He calls it 

 a graft and a seedling accomplished at the 

 same time. It is worthy of experiment in 

 California. 



Mr. Payen has experimented with a modi- 

 fication of this plan by taking the bud, or 

 eye, with a portion of the adjacent bark and 

 wood, scarcely more than used in bud graft- 

 ing. The results of comparison are that the 

 Hudelot system insures stronger and larger 

 pivotal roots, while the other produces more 

 numerous rootlets, and has produced fruit in 

 the second year. 



INSTRUCTIONS FOB PLANTING SEEDS 



Are to be found in the work of Lenoir, and 

 in a recent pamphlet by Mr. A. H. Trimou- 

 let, of Bordeaux (Eleventh letter on "The 

 Phylloxera)." *Mr. Trimoulet quotes the 

 method of M. Vibert, pepinierist, of Angers, 

 which appeared in the thirteenth year, No. 1, 

 of the " Bulletin of the Industrial Society of 

 Angers." 



It is a fact worthy of remark that the fa- 

 vorite American vine now cultivated in 

 France- -the Jacquez is being obtained from 

 cuttings of the Lenoir variety of Texas, now 



considered to be the same. Whether it was 

 named after Mr. Leuoir, whose work I have 

 mentioned, or whether it obtained its name 

 (le noir) from its dark-colored fruit, I do not 

 know ; but it is singular that the great 

 writer's predictions should be first verified 

 with a plant bearing his own name. 



THE PHYLLOXEKA IN FRANCE. 



While I was in Bordeaux in 1878 I wrote as 

 follows : 



The vines of the Gironde have several 

 critical periods to pass through each year, 

 notably among which are: First the season 

 of frost; Second the season of dew; Third 

 oidium, and all the time the season of phyl- 

 loxera. The frost affects buds and the ten- 

 der leaves; the dew, falling upon the flowers 

 and succeeded by the warm sun-rays, kills 

 many of the germs of the berries and reduces 

 the crop; the oidium, a kind of fungus, at- 

 tacks the fruit, shrivels and rots it before ma- 

 turity. In the Medoc, this year, the oidrum 

 has greatly reduced the crop, and in the re- 

 gion of Saut ernes the dew has done much 

 damage. I have to-day learned that the pro- 

 duct of Chateau Yquem this year is only 

 fiftv-five tonneaus 13,200 gallons instead 

 of the average yield of 28,800 gallons; this 

 decrease is caused by dew principally. The 

 oidium, which, for a number of years al- 

 most destroyed the French wine interest, 

 completely destroyed the Madeira, and was 

 the occasion of introducing the American 

 vines into France to experiment with, is corn- 

 batted by means of sulphur, but the results 

 show that the vines are still subject to the 

 disease. The phylloxera is only another 

 proof of their weakness. / 



I have already described the ravages of the 

 phylloxera in the Cognac country, which is 

 the extension of this region to the north and 

 northeast. These ravages extend down to 

 the banks of the Garonne and the Gironde, 

 covering four-fifths of this Department, 

 where not more than a third of a crop is ob- 

 tained at this vintage. The west side of the 

 Garonne, on the edges of the great Medoc, 

 Graves and Sauternes vineyards, is also af- 

 fected in numerous places, but here the pro- 

 gress is not rapid. 



Neither richness nor poverty of soil seem 

 to have any close connection with this ques- 

 tion. In the Charente and in the valley of 

 the Rhone the soil is what we should call 

 poor; there the phylloxera revels. In the 

 palus, the bottom lands of this legion, where 

 the soil is very 'rich and the vines grow ap- 

 parently thriftily, the phylloxera also revels. 

 But where the vines produce the finest wines, 

 there the phylloxera advances slowly and 

 seems checked. The regions of poor wines 

 have been devastated. No great vineyards 



