598 



Garden and Forest. 



[December io, 1890. 



Cultural Department. 

 Another Year Among Grapes. 



THE grape season of 1890 proved no more satisfactory in 

 any important feature than the two preceding ones. The 

 variations in different vineyards but a few miles apart in the 

 behavior of the same variety bave been remarkable, and were 

 probably due to the condition of the vines at certain stages of 

 the weather. The Rosebug, which devastated the vineyards 

 of south Jersey, has not 

 yet proved serious here, 

 though the number on 

 my vines this year was 

 twice as large as it was 

 last year ; but my prac- 

 tice is to kill every one 

 found, if possible, which 

 will, I hope, tend to post- 

 pone an invasion against 

 which I shall be power- 

 less. Aside from the 

 leaf -roller, I have had 

 less trouble with insects 

 than usual. Frequent 

 rains and dull weather at 

 the time of blooming did 

 more harm perhaps than 

 any other cause. To this 

 I attribute the imperfect 

 fertilization of the flow- 

 ers, which exceeded all 

 past experience. A friend 

 but a few miles distant 

 reports his Concords ex- 

 ceptionally good, while 

 mine were never a more 

 complete failure. My the- 

 ory for this difference is 

 that a few days' difference 

 in their blooming season 

 gave to one vineyard good 

 weather for pollenation 

 and bad weather to the 

 other. 



Fungi, as usual, were 

 abundant, but bagging 

 heads off the rot, if ap- 

 plied early enough ; and 

 spraying with sulphate of 

 copper, has kept the mil- 

 dew in check, so that 

 damage from these 

 sources has been incon- 

 siderable. We now fear 

 these enemies much less 

 than heretofore, but an 

 old, and as yet uncon- 

 querable, foe made an 

 invasion which brought 

 more widespread ruin 

 than our vines ever be- 

 fore suffered. This is the 

 Anthracnose, a Fungus 

 that attacks the young 

 growth of the Vine as 

 well as the fruit. In slight 

 attacks the young cane is 

 only discolored, and they 

 partially outgrow the dis- 

 ease, but seldom, if ever, 

 fully recover. In this 

 stage many persons 



would not recognize it. A grape-grower of long experience vis- 

 ited me this season, and he could hardly be persuaded this was 

 an early stage of the contagion. He only recognized it after it 

 had developed and ruptured the tissues of the bark, showing 

 its black spots, and had stunted or killed the young canes. As yet 

 no certain remedy for this Fungus has been found. This 

 disease should be a subject of experiment by our scientific 

 students and practical grape-growers, and an effectual remedy 

 will be as welcome as was the cure for mildew. 



The labor of combating insects and these Fungi, together 

 with low prices for the fruit, renders grape growing for profit 

 less enticing than formerly, and where all of these difficulties 



Fig. 79. — Side View ot a Flower ot Aristolochia grandiflora, much reduced. — See page 596. 



abound it is not strange that some growers areabandoning the 

 business. When we consider that some varieties are much 

 more liable to fungous attacks than others, it is a debatable 

 question whether they are not more likely to appear and more 

 virulent when they do come in vineyards containing a large 

 number of varieties than where there are fewer. The test of 

 a Vine's resistant qualities among a large number of varieties 

 would be more satisfactory than if it were planted by itself. 



The Vine-grower has other trials than those arising from in- 

 sects and plant diseases. He must study the public taste, and 



the consequent demands 

 of the market. A grape 

 good enough for me to 

 eat is good enough to 

 sell, but among more than 

 fifty varieties I find some 

 I could not put in either 

 class, although they are 

 highly extolled in other 

 sections. I add some 

 notes on the relative 

 value of different varie- 

 ties according to my ex- 

 perience. 



To commence with, 

 Moore's Early, among the 

 black Grapes, is of fair 

 quality and size, but not 

 very productive. It is fol- 

 lowed by Cottage, a more 

 vigorous and productive 

 variety, and equal to it, if 

 not better, in quality. 

 Then comes Worden, 

 larger and better than all. 

 If it only had the skin of 

 the Rogers' Hybrids it 

 would be about perfec- 

 tion in its line. Concord, 

 belonging to this class, 

 will have to follow here, 

 though with the purchas- 

 ing public ninety-nine out 

 of every hundred, and 

 many dealers as well, re- 

 gard all black grapes as 

 Concords, and buy and 

 sell them as such. About 

 the same proportion of 

 the public know but two 

 pears, Bartlett andSeckel, 

 and call for them at all 

 unseasonable times. Of 

 other black grapes that 

 will keep longer and are 

 better in quality, I name 

 Wilder (Rogers'4),Aminia 

 (39), Barry (43), Herbert 

 (44) and Merrimac (19), in 

 the order named. 



Of red grapes, Brighton 

 is early and excellent, but 

 liable to set poorly; Lind- 

 ley (Rogers' 9) is open to 

 the same objection, and 

 so is Rogers' 32. A vine 

 or two of Delaware I keep 

 for its intrinsic excellence, 

 and Berckmans will prob- 

 ably prove an acceptable 

 substitute. Among the 

 Rogers' Hybrids there is 

 much confusion. The 

 Bush, of Missouri, be- 

 received under the same 



Aminia was so named by Mr. 

 cause it was one of two varieties 

 number. I have two distinct varieties, both received as 

 No. 32, and it is not an unusual thing to get two or three kinds 

 in an order of twenty-five vines of the same variety, though 

 obtained from the most reliable sources. Some of these hybrids 

 so closely resemble each other that an error of this kind would 

 easily escape detection among the black kinds, but when some 

 of these turn out to be red ones the mistake is pretty palpable. 

 Among white grapes Niagara far surpasses all the rest. 

 Pocklington rots and cracks badly and is too foxy. Martha is a 

 poor apology for a grape, though the vine is vigorous and 



