THIETY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS^ CONVENTION. 



33 



system that will take up more water than can be thrown off by the 

 leaves. A check of sap issues which, I believe, is the prime cause of 

 black root knot. In other words, there can be no return flow, and this 

 unassimilated sap must escape, and we therefore find the root knot 

 breaking out at the weakest point of our vine. In many of our sections, 

 where ^dnes are now being planted in warm, deep, gravelly loam, I 

 prefer cuttings to rooted vines if properly taken and planted. The 

 cuttings should be eighteen inches long, with the bottom cut squarely 

 across, just below the bud. one quarter of an inch below the diaphragm. 

 The relative position of this partition can be more easily judged if 

 you split a few canes and observe carefully its relationship to the bud. 

 Never cut slanting through the bud. as is sometimes recommended, for 

 you will destroy the bottom node and the roots will be found straggling 

 all the way up the cane, instead of a whorl at the bottom node. The 

 top cut should be slanting, one half to one inch above the bud. The 

 cutting should be planted with just one bud above the surface of the 

 ground. I believe "by this method you will get a vineyard with root 

 systems natural to the conditions and very less apt to suffer from root 

 knot. You eliminate to. a minimum the danger of introducing diseases 

 or insect pests. You are sure of the quality and variety of parent 

 stock, and the cost is enough reduced to be an object. 



It is an old adage, but as applicable to-day as ever, that you should 

 not carry all your eggs in one basket. The raisin and table grape 

 growers are not absolutely compelled to dispose of their grapes in one 

 particular channel. But with the dry wine grape grower it is different. 

 Their grapes would not make good raisins even if their locations would 

 permit of drying. They are not acceptable as a table product, so it is 

 just wine, wine, wine, and at this day when we are all going dry, as far 

 as alcoholic beverages are concerned, many who have locations admir- 

 ably adapted to this variety of grape culture feel some uneasiness, if 

 not panic, over the future prospects of our wine industry. As I have 

 said before, there is and always will be a demand for the best, but I feel 

 that there is bound to be corresponding glut of the inferior wines 

 if the present ratio of planting is indulged in. Is there, then, any way 

 out of the difficulty ? I think there is, and that the problem Avill be 

 at least partially solved by the establishment of the unfermented or 

 sweet juice industry. Now, it may be that we are to go through the 

 same stages in establishing this product that we have passed in our 

 - ine. raisin, or, perhaps, as a better example, our olive oil products. 



The Eastern States have created a good and steadily increasing market 

 I'or sweet juice, which they produce entirely from American vines, and 

 ^^'hich is consequently endowed with their particular flavor. "Whether 

 it is advisable to continue along these lines by planting their best 

 varieties in the locations most favorably adapted in this State or, 

 acting independently, produce from our European varieties a sweet 

 juice of a diff'erent flavor, is perhaps the key to tjie situation. As for 

 me. I am for the production of a California juix?e as distinctive as 

 is our olive oil, and I am as fl^rmly comineed that its success will be 

 much more rapid and complete than has been the production of this oil, 

 vxhich we all hold superior to the imported product. 



There are those who contend for the Eastern varieties, and their 



3 — FGC 



