80 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GARDENING. 



dry. Muscats and those tender delicious kinds, 

 White Frontignan, and Duchess of Buccleuch, are 

 often badly rusted by sulphur, if applied when they 

 are ripe or approaching that stage. 



Scalding (Pig. 31.) — This is a disease which 

 affects certain kinds of grapes, always at one par- 

 ticular stage of their growth. Lady Downes and 

 Muscats are most subject to it, and it always attacks 

 them during the time they are finishing stoning. 

 In fine, steady weather, the disease is very slight ; 

 but during hot oppressive days, notably when the 

 atmosphere is charged with electricity, the bunches 



^h'-^H^ 



is satisfactory, the critical period will not exceed 

 three weeks. 



Bleeding. — When bleeding sets in, it is almost 

 impossible to stop it until the vines get into leaf, 

 when Nature lends her healing art ; but by that time 

 vigorous vines are very often seriously enervated. 

 Searing with hot irons, sealing-wax, painter's knot- 

 ting, and other styptics have been recommended;' 

 but so powerful is the force of the sap, that every 

 application is diluted and rendered useless until it 

 finds an outlet in the leaves. Fortunately a pre- 

 ventive remedy which is extremely simple can 



rig. 30.— Mildew. 



Pig. 31.— Scalding. 



suffer severely. The berries suddenly become de- 

 pressed and puckered on one side ; the kernels seem 

 to ferment, and in a few hours they look as if they 

 had been syringed or touched with boiling water. 

 What is most remarkable, scalding is not confined to 

 bunches that are exposed to the sun, as many of 

 them are placed where the sun cannot touch them. 

 During the stoning process, great attention should 

 be given to ventilation throughout the day, and the 

 moment a scalded berry is detected, the house should 

 be as freely ventilated as a warm conservatory. A 

 low temperature must not, however, bo caused by 

 allowing the fires to go out, as the link which com- 

 pletes the twenty-four hours, consists of keeping the 

 pipes and the house warm through the night to pre- 

 vent the berries from getting cold before morning, 

 otherwise they will condense moisture, as they will 

 not warm so quickly as the air of the house' when 

 the sun again falls upon the roof. If root-action 



always be found in early pruning, as has been 

 suggested in a previous article. Thomson's styptic 

 should always be applied to every cut the moment 

 the vines are pruned. 



"Warts on the Back of the Leaf.— If this is 

 not a disease, it is a very unsightly gathering of 

 vegetable matter in the wrong place, and a sure 

 indication that the management of the house is far 

 from satisfactory. Many think it does no harm, 

 but when warts become very bad, the foliage cups, 

 turns pale yellow, and eventually dies. Moreover 

 the first application of sulphm- to the pipes 

 turns every wart black, a sure proof that the 

 organised matter is in a very sensitive, if not a con- 

 gestive state. Warts are most prevalent in small, 

 close, early-forced pits and houses, which are im- 

 perfectiy ventilated, and saturated with stagnant 

 atmosphere. • Large houses that are freely ventilated 



