268 CU LTUlt E OF THE GRAPE. 



yard, I have found it absolutely necessary, in order to 

 have any salable fruit, to keep a boy constantly at work 

 with a watchman's rattle, and also with a gun, " contrary 

 to the statute in such case made and provided." Of 

 course, this will be called cruel and barbarous ; and it will 

 be asked with an outgush of generous emotion, "Why not 

 raise grapes enough for ourselves and the birds also ? " 

 Yes ; but when the robin spoils tenfold what he can eat, 

 and, in his greed, lays claim to all, however extensive the 

 vineyard, I for one am inclined to resort to the argument 

 of powder and shot. 



In concluding this subject of diseases and injurious in- 

 sects, we must admit that the list looks long and formida- 

 ble, and that "eternal vigilance" is the price which we 

 must pay for the grape. In the Atlantic States, it is no 

 spontaneous growth, as in California, where they treat the 

 vine much as we treat a crop of corn, with no training, no 

 checking, no mildew, and no complaint of insects. And 

 yet we are not to be discouraged : we shall find, that, 

 by systematic effort, our difficulties can not only be over- 

 come, but will prove less than we anticipated. Many of 

 the insects, for example, are not likely to trouble us in the 

 least; and there is not one of them which cannot be kept 

 in check, the thrip being perhaps the most difficult. Not- 



