38 CHARLES ANTHONY GOESSMANN 



to be parasitic in origin. He maintained that the dis- 

 ease of peach trees known as 'the yellows' was due to 

 impaired nutrition, and that after treatment with a 

 phosphatic fertilizer in connexion with potassium 

 chloride they become vigorous and healthy. 



During the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia 

 one of the French Commissioners visited the College 

 vineyards at Amherst, then under treatment with 

 special fertilizers for the Phylloxera, and observed that 

 nowhere had he seen more vigorous vines or better 

 developed fruit, expressing surprise that such should 

 be the case. ' We feed the vines and the Phylloxera 

 too,' said Dr. Goessmann in reply; 'the excessive 

 supply of food to the vines giving them a stimula- 

 tion which enables them to resist successfully the 

 effects of the parasite.' 



Between 1874 and 1876, with his able assistant, 

 David P. Penhallow, he investigated the physiological 

 effect of special chemical fertilizers upon the carbo- 

 hydrate content of various fruit-bearing plants and 

 the quality of the fruit. He studied especially the be- 

 haviour of certain wild and cultivated grape-vines 

 under the influence of different fertilizing agents, 

 whereby the amount of acid, sugar, and ether in the 

 fruit may be increased or modified and the formation 

 of the aromatic principles peculiar to the species pro- 

 moted even to the flavour of the fruit and the bouquet 

 of wines. He found also 'that the colouring matter 

 which is characteristic of the ripe grape is already, in 

 some concealed form, present at a very early stage of 

 its growth.' These experiments on the relation of the 



