60 Mildew 



BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



and Rot. 



uEstivalis, Southern Division: Devereux, 

 Herbemont, Leuoir, Louisiana, Rulander. 



^Sstivalis crossed with A'inifera ('f) Alvey. 



Labnisca: Catawba, Diana, Isabella. 



Riparia crosses with Labr.: Amber (Rom- 

 mel's), Marion, rhlanfl. 



Hybr., Labr. and Vinifera, Labr. and Hvbr., 

 and Vinif. with Rip.: Black Eagle, Brigh- 

 ton, Brandt, Herbert, Liudley, Triumph, 

 Wilder. 



IV. Categoky: suifering seriously even in normal 

 seasons; entirely unreliable, except in some 

 few favored localities, which are free from 

 mildew. 



^stivalis: Elsinburg, Eumelan. 



Labrusca: Adirondac, Cassady, Creveling, 

 Isabella, lona. Mottled, Maxatawney, 

 Union Village, Rebecca, Walter. 



Undetermined Class: Delawake. 



Hybr. of Vinif. and ZaZ»'.; Agawam, Allen's 

 hybr., Amenia, Barry, Black Deliance, 

 Crotou, Irving, Massasoit, Merrimack, 

 Salem, Seuasqua. 



Hybr. of Vinif. and Rip.: Autuchon, Canada, 

 Cornucopia, Othello. 



Varieties not sufficiently tried, and especial]^^ 

 new varieties we would not presume to classify ; 

 but one may safely judge of their resistance to 

 mildew by their jiarentage. 



As to rot: The only variety never attacked bj' 

 this fungus is the Delaware, which suffers, how- 

 ever, the more from mildew. Norton's, Ives and 

 Perkins were in some localities long considered 

 quite exempt from rot. but were also found in 

 others more or less subject to it. Suggestions 

 such as planting vineyards on high open posi- 

 tions, with perfect drainage, allowing plenty of 

 room on the trellis, to keep soil and roots as dry 

 as possible and secure free access of sun aud air; 

 mulching the soil to prevent an excess of heat; 

 and other suggestions were not very practicable, 

 except on a small scale and seemed even then of 

 no practical advantage in diminishing the dis- 

 ease; sulphuring, very successfully applied in 

 Europe against powdery mildew (Oidiuin) proved 

 no remed}- against downy mildew (Peronospora) 

 nor against rot; a coping, a canopy of boards or 

 canvas, over the trellis is no protection, nor was 

 it recommended against rot. 



Neither remedy nor preventive seemed possi- 

 ble, and before these were discovered we were 

 dismayed. The following quotations from high 

 viticultural authorities will show the seriousness 

 of the evil and its effect on grape culture : 



Alex- W. Peakson of Vineland, N. J., a man 

 ■whose knowledge and long experience entitles 

 his word to great weight in this matter, said : 

 "The foliage is destroyed by the mildew and the 

 fruit is ruined by the black rot. Grape culture 

 may bo called a failure in this region on account 

 of these diseases. Various remedies for these 

 evils have been tried with but little success." 



Geo. W. Campbell of Delaware, Ohio — whom 

 all veteran grape-growers know, love and honor 

 — said in 1885: ''The great obstacles in the way 

 of improvement of our American grapes are : Mil- 

 dew of the foliage., rotting of the fruit and tender- 

 ness of the vine in severe winters." 



Prof. T. J. Burrill of the Illinois University, 

 stated in 1885: '* Our knowledge of the fungi, 



which destroy the grapes to so great an extent in 

 this country, has not been materially increased 

 during the few years past." 



Jacob Rommel of Morrison, Mo., the origin- 

 ator of the Elvira, a plain, yet most eminent and 

 devoted vintner, said:* ''The rot in grapes has 

 been most fatal, and has been on the increase 

 from year to j'ear. Concord is, in many places, for 

 last years, a failure by rot; this and many of the 

 old kinds, when flrst introduced, have for years 

 proved almost exempt from rot, likewise many of 

 our newer kinds. All appear to share the same 

 fate in time, with the exception that some will 

 resist it longer than others. There have been tried 

 many remedies for preventing rot, but so far all 

 have failed, except to cover the vines over head 

 or to run them under eaves; this, however, is too 

 expensive. At the same meeting a letter of ex- 

 cuse from our junior, G. E. Meissner was read, 

 saying: "I had no heart to make a report, which 

 in itself could have reported but little else be- 

 sides failure of crops." 



And as late as 1889, B. T. Galloway, HOi/; chief 

 of Division of Vegetable Pathology. United States 

 Department of Agriculture, stated: "Downey 

 mildew and black rot prevail more or less seri- 

 ously in all of the States east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, and despite of the fact that for many years 

 they have annually destroj^ed from one-half to 

 three-fourths of the crop, no organized effort has 

 until within the last three years been made to 

 combat them." 



We were, naturally, somewhat discouraged, 

 nevertheless we were persevering in the work, 

 not without hope that some remed.v will be found ; 

 and we expressed this hope in the third edition of 

 this catalogue. 1883 (page 49), in the following 

 words: '"Eminent scientists will now occupy 

 themselves with this serious question," adding: 

 "We have now before us an 'Essay sur le Mildion 

 par A. milliard et, Professeur de la Faculty des 

 Sciences a Bordeaux; Paris, 1882.' He suggests 

 as a remed}' 'a mixture of powdered sulphate of 

 iron, copperas (4 lbs.), with plaster of pans, gyp- 

 sum ('20 lbs.), which according to repoi'ts was ap- 

 plied with marked success.' " At the Missouri 

 State Horticultural meeting, held at Warrensburg 

 December, 1885, our G. E. Meissner, lately re- 

 turned from a visit to Europe, said : "Happily the 

 hope expressed two years ago by my friend and 

 partner. Bush, seems now to have been realized," 

 and he gave an extract of several articles just then 

 published in the Message Agricole, at Montpcllier. 

 France, "On the Treatment of Rot and Mildew," 

 by Prof. Millardet, of Bordeaux. It was the same 

 as is now^ recommended, somewhat improved, 

 after extensive trials and tests, in Prof. Galloway's 

 article (page 5(5 of this catalogue). Friend Meiss- 

 ner reported at the same time (Missouri Horticul- 

 tural Report, 1885, p. 199) another remedy, applied 

 with remarkable success in Italy, consisting sim- 

 ply of a lime wash, or 'lime milk," prepared in 

 the proportion of 2}.2 kilos (about 5 I4 lbs.) of fresh 

 lime slaked in 100 litres (■26>2 gallons) of water. 

 With this liquid the vines were sprinkled abun- 

 dantly, and from the middle of May until the 

 middle of August this operation is repeated live 

 or six times. Vines so treated, which were for- 

 merly ravaged l\y mildew (Peronospora), were 

 now reported exempt from it. to have conserved 

 all their leaves and of a dark green color. Now, 

 if it should prove equally efficacious here, the 



♦Missouri State Horticultural Society, meeting at 

 Lexington, Mo., December, 1886. 



