Former Treatments of Crrape Diseases. 89 



Colonel Alexander W. Pearson, of Vineland, N.J., summed 

 up the situation, regarding vineyard diseases, in a comprehen- 

 sive article which was published in 1886. 1 lie says : " Years 

 ago, while experimenting with sundry chemicals designed in 

 their application to prevent or cure ' the rot,' I accidentally 

 noticed a vine, one branch of which was trained beneath the 

 shelter of a projecting cornice, while the other ran over a 

 trellis exposed to the sky. The grapes beneath the cornice 

 were sound; those exposed were rotten." Acting upon this 

 hint, Colonel Pearson made a board covering, twenty inches 

 wide, over a portion of his trellis, and the following year he 

 found that the fruit under the shelter was sound, while that 

 which projected beyond \vas injured as well as all others which 

 were unprotected.' 2 The year following, the boards were re- 

 placed by cotton sheeting a yard wide, which was regularly 

 used afterwards. Paper bags were also tried, these being tied 

 about the fruit. They also afforded excellent protection, but 

 their use was rather expensive, so that the main reliance was 

 placed upon the cloth coverings, which in addition protected 

 the foliage from the downy mildew. 



In 1882, Colonel Pearson selected a block of Concords from 

 which he u had the symptoms of infection removed as fast as 

 they appeared. All the rotted grapes were picked weekly from 

 the clusters, picked up from beneath the trellis, taken away, and 

 buried. The leaves, wherever spotted with the phoma [black 

 rot], were also gathered." The following year "the vines thus 

 cleaned showed an improvement of at least 50 per cent in their 

 crop. Plowing all debris under, late in the spring, and then 

 leaving the ground undisturbed, also proved beneficial." These 

 processes of disinfection were considered as forming the surest 

 and most practicable means for the prevention of rot on grapes. 



Vines that were well nourished were supposed to resist disease 

 better than their weaker neighbors, the downy mildew in par- 

 ticular being influenced by this variation. In other respects 

 this fungus was treated with difficulty : " There is no benefit 

 from any method of disinfection, which I have tried. Sulphur 



1 Scribner, U. S. Dept. of Agrie. Sot. Die. Bull. il. "Report on the Fungous 

 Diseases of the Grape Vine," Appendix B. " Remarks on Grape Rot and Grape Mil- 

 dew," 54-63. 



2 This remedy was not new. See Ann. Sept. V. S. Com. of Agric. 1861, 498. 



