Grape-Culture. 2li 



It has been supposed by many that oidiinn attacks only the cuUivated 

 varieties, and that it is one of the evils incident to the artificial condition 

 of the cultivated vine. But I have seen the wild grape, Viiis cssUvalis, in 

 its native habitat, as badly affected as any of the cultivated varieties ; and 

 upon one occasion, when I had transplanted some wild vines from the woods 

 into my garden as stocks for grafting, they exhibited more mildewed foliage 

 than any of the cultivated kinds. 



The cause of grape-rot is even more obscure than that of mdium ; for, 

 while the same influences that seem most favorable to the growth and 

 spread of oidium appear also to increase the tendency to rot, it is never- 

 theless true that either of these evils may and often does occur without 

 the appearance of the other. And while several of the more hardy and 

 robust of our native varieties, such as Concord, Ives, Hartford, and some 

 of Rogers's Hybrids, seem under ordinary circumstances, and in most 

 localities, exempt from either, others less hardy, as Diana, Catawba, and lona, 

 are often, in unfavorable seasons, badly affected by rot without much ap- 

 pearance of mildew, and at other times by both at once. Another class, 

 usually those of smoother and more delicate foliage, such as Delaware, 

 Creveling, and Clinton, in some localities suffer from mildew, but rarely, if 

 ever, from rot. I am not aware that any remedy beyond what may be 

 found in intelligent and careful culture has ever been proposed as a pre- 

 ventive against rot ; and, in the present state of our knowledge upon this 

 subject, I have nothing beyond this to recommend. 



In reply to the friendly criticism of "Barac/id" in the November num- 

 ber of the Journal, I will saj', that, in these articles, my statements are made 

 in a general way, as the results of my own observation and experience, 

 and are intended to be suggestive rather than authoritative. It may be 

 that my remark, that any soil that would produce a good crop of corn would 

 also produce good grapes, will admit of some modification : still I believe 

 in its general correctness. And, though the extent of territory in which 

 grapes of the highest wine-producing character can be grown is probably 

 quite limited, grapes of fair quality for both table and wine purposes can 

 be and are produced over a pretty large extent of our country : and I be- 

 lieve there is no region where a good crop of Indian corn can be produced, 

 that grapes of the cosmopolitan character of the Concord and Hartford 



