14 BULLETIN 903, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



At this earlier period the pioneer growers of grapes were begin- 

 ning to realize the possibilities of success clue to the advantage of the 

 peculiar suitabilities of climate and soil in California for the culture 

 of European varieties of Vitis vinifera. 



Within the period of 48 years (1866-1914) there had been an 

 increase of nearly 90,000,000 vines. Within this lapse of time, so 

 comparatively short for such a prominent industry of the State, 

 many changes occurred in the different viticultural districts with 

 which phylloxera had little or nothing to do, and the gradual damage 

 and loss caused by the insect could not be compared with the acutely 

 sinister influence of extreme fluctuations in the market values of 

 grapes, whether for wine, raisin, or table use, which swayed the 

 industry at different times from opulence to ruin and vice versa for 

 the growers; yet when looking backward over the years, the phyl- 

 loxera stands out preeminent and is considered as the main single 

 factor in the loss and damage sustained by California viticulture. 



In the early period the counties south of the San Bernardino 

 boundary line were in the lead for the acreage in vines and for the 

 production of wine. To-day in these counties viticulture is of sec- 

 ondary importance, yet phylloxera has never been discovered there. 

 The Anaheim disease was one of the causes of this decline, but the 

 change to the more lucrative investments in citrus culture, which no 

 doubt appealed more to the tastes of the many eastern settlers who 

 largely populated that portion of the State, is mainly responsible for 

 the falling off in acreage of grapes and lack of interest in the industry. 



Another viticultural district which underwent a great change was 

 that of the Santa Clara Valley. There grape growing increased 

 rapidly from 1885 to 1895, when the acreage of vineyards was the 

 greatest and the county of Santa Clara produced almost one-third 

 of the dry wines of the State. From 1893, when the vines began to 

 die, the decline in acreage was much more rapid than had been its 

 growth. 



It was commonly believed at the time that the Anaheim disease, 

 which had caused such great ravages in the southern part of the 

 State, was also responsible for the sudden dying off of the vines in 

 the Santa Clara Valley. The damage caused to the vineyards was 

 so extensive that an investigation was instituted by the College of 

 Agriculture of the University of California to determine the 

 cause (3). The general conclusions arrived at were the following: 



First, that the dying vines exhibit symptoms differing materially from those 

 shown by the vines in Southern California which were destroyed by the Ana- 

 heim disease; and, second, that whether or not there be some "unknown in- 

 fluence " at work, as suggested by Mr. Newton B. Pierce, the real, determining 

 factor is the deficiency of rainfall during the years 1897-1900. 



