Grape-Culture. 209 



the habits and capacities of his vines as to maintain such a state of har- 

 mony between the crop of fruit and the growing wood, that both arrive at 

 healthy and perfect maturity, will achieve the greatest success in grape- 

 culture of which the art is susceptible. 



Mildew, or oidiiim, upon the foliage, and rotting of the fruit, are the two 

 great difficulties with which the grape-grower has to contend ; and, most 

 unfortunately, our finest grapes seem, as a rule, most liable to their attack. 

 It must also be confessed that their causes are still somewhat obscure, and 

 that no positive remedies for either have yet been discovered. Theories 

 based upon one or two years' experience are very apt to be disproved by 

 that of the next ; and many of our oldest vineyardists find themselves, after 

 years of observation, in the condition of the honest German vine-dresser, 

 who announced in reference to this subject, that, " the more he studied, the 

 more he didn't know." 



Of the two, oidiuni, or mildew, seems best understood. It is a parasitic, 

 fungoid growth, which first appears in small white patches upon the under 

 side of the leaves, with corresponding brown, discolored spots upon the 

 upper side, extending sometimes also to the petioles and the young and 

 tender shoots. If not checked, it soon covers the entire under-surface of 

 the leaves, feeding upon and destroying their natural functions ; its effects 

 also perv'ading and impairing the vitality of the whole vine. 



It is generally conceded that the application of sulphur is to some extent a 

 prevention of, if not a specific for, this evil. My own experience indicates, 

 that, to be effective, it should be applied early, — either before or during the 

 most rapid growth of the vine ; for it has invariably resulted, that vines to 

 which it was applied at this time either entirely escaped, or suffered much 

 less from mildew than those to which no application was made, or where it 

 was delayed until the disease had made its appearance. I have usually 

 employed the sulphur in combination with one-half or one-third quicklime 

 in fine powder ; and the most convenient mode of applying it which I have 

 found has been by the use of a bellows, a drawing of which I append, and 

 upon which there is no patent. It is simj^le in construction, and very 

 effective. By its use, a cloud of sulphur and lime can be distributed among 

 the vines along a trellis nearly as fast as one would naturally walk. I have 

 sometimes used pulverized gj'psum, or sulphate of lime, in place of quick- 



