130 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS CONVENTION. 



one week before the vines came out in leaf. Prevention is better than 

 cure, and, on general principles, a vineyard that is kept in high condi- 

 tion by careful and thorough cultivation and judicious fertilizing will 

 resist many evils from which a neglected vineyard will suffer. The use 

 of sulphur should not be forgotten; two or three dressings in the spring 

 act as a stimulant to the vine, prevent oidium, and, I believe, assist 

 the early ripening of the crop. 



Before leaving the subject of the welfare of the vine, I will say a few 

 words on the subject of pruning, which is a very important part of the 

 necessary work of a vineyard. Some vineyardists boast of the fact 

 that they have let their pruning by contract at so much per acre — say, 

 $1.50, including burning the brush — and then turn the contractor and 

 his men loose in the vineyard with little, if any, supervision, with the 

 result that when they get through a first-class butchery has been 

 accomplished. In some vineyards, the brush is chopped off at equal 

 length from the stump without regard as to the number of eyes left, no 

 discrimination in thinning, suckers even are pruned and left as desir- 

 able bearing spurs. Then again, others prune the stump bare, as though 

 the object was to grow suckers entirely, and after a few years of this 

 treatment they have nothing but suckers, with the crown of the vine 

 rotten and dead. Whatever form of vine is desired, it should be 

 remembered that the best bearing spurs grow from two-year-old wood, 

 and that this two-year-old wood should be growing on or around the 

 crown at regular intervals to give the most space for the hanging 

 bunches, at the same time by a free circulation of sap keeping the 

 whole vine in a healthy growing condition. 



Drainage, in some districts, is a question of vital importance to the 

 welfare of the vineyardist. A water-logged vineyard, with only a foot 

 or two of soil available as feeding ground for the roots of a vine, is a 

 poor proposition, requiring an annual artificial supply of ingredients 

 necessary for the support of a vine and the crops; and the evaporation 

 of this water, all of which is heavily charged with alkali, will in a short 

 time make the upper soil incapable of sustaining any vegetable life less 

 hardy than Bermuda-grass. 



And, finally, the future of the raisin grape and the prosperity of the 

 raisin industr}^ will be determined by the margin of profit left to the 

 vineyardist, over the cost of production. We all know by experience 

 that even when the supply does not exceed the demand, the competition 

 among the vineyardists themselves, in an effort to be the first to realize 

 on their crop, utterly demoralizes the market, with the result that it is 

 the impecunious grower who fixes the selling price, and that, without 

 organization and co-operation, is always the inevitable result. 



We have to-day a strong organization in the California Raisin- 

 Growers' Association. With a very large crop to dispose of, the market 



