132 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



other cause which springs from this want. The crop 

 of fruit is lost as thus described, but the vines seem 

 in good health, and they make strong roots towards 

 autumn, again to share the fate of their predecessors ; 

 and so the round goes on." 



Twenty-one years ago I took the management of a 

 number of vineries, the vines in which corresponded 

 exactly to the above description, and I renewed the 

 whole of the borders, and planted them with young 

 vines. On removing the old borders, they were found 

 to consist of damp solid soil, without any portion of 

 opening material, and all the drainage under them 

 was a few inches of ordinary coal-ashes. I did not 

 find a single young fibry root from one end of the 

 range to the other at the time — midwinter — when the 

 soil was removed. There was nothing to be seen but 

 old, thick, brown-like roots, and it was no wonder that 

 the grapes shanked most severely. Having shown the 

 principal cause of shanking, the remedy can be antici- 

 pated. Vines under such circumstances must either 

 be discarded altogether, or lifted out of the wet re- 

 tentive border and planted in soil congenial to them. 

 For this process I refer to what has been said on ren- 

 ovating exhausted vines, p. 105. Ample drainage, a 

 free open soil, protecting the roots from winter rains, 

 and a thorough ripening of the wood and roots in 

 autumn, with moderate cropping, are the best preven- 

 tives of shanking. 



Mildew. — It is generally admitted that mildew is 

 a very minute fungus, concerning the origin of which 

 there is yet great diversity of opinion. It is, how- 

 ever, a very formidable enemy to the vine, and if 

 allowed to go on unmolested, it proves very destruc- 

 tive in some instances. It can be easily prevented 



