TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 107 



It was totally unlike the Californica. When the vine started scores of 

 years before, it is extremely doubtful if there was a specimen of the 

 Vinifera within fifty miles of it. Here was a vine with the vigor of the 

 Mission under the most favorable circumstances. Climbing some 

 twenty feet into the tree that supported this wonderful vine, Professor 

 Rampendahl secured seven cuttings from the dense top growth. 



Last October I saw a vine growing from one of those cuttings, in the 

 midst of a vineyard that has been infested by the phylloxera for years, 

 even before this Vigorosa was placed there, fourteen years ago. This 

 vineyard was deemed of so little value last year that the renter had 

 planted it to corn, and in cultivating that crop had destroyed a con- 

 siderable portion of the ends of the shoots from the Vigorosa. Despite 

 this there were fifty shoots, which, with their laterals, showed an 

 average of 50 feet of new wood, or a growth of fully 2,500 feet for this 

 season. One of these shoots, now on exhibition in Horticultural Hall 

 at Santa Rosa, measures, including laterals, 54 feet. I picked a few 

 table grapes from old vines that were struggling along 16 feet from this 

 Vigorosa. The vineyard showed plainly the effect of the pest by 

 missing vines, poor growth, and light bearing. Sinking a well within 

 80 feet of his oldest Vigorosa, Professor Rampendahl found a scanty 

 supply of water at a depth of 22 feet. 



The contrast between the old vineyard and new blocks of- Vigorosa 

 which have been planted where old vines have been removed was most 

 remarkable. The luxuriant and symmetrical growth was wonderful. I 

 did not note a single vine missing or any weakness in any of the 

 Vigorosas. They stand on a rich, alluvial, well-drained soil. 



The late W. H. Crabb. of Oakville, gave the Vigorosa a practical test 

 in very dry, gravelly soil. Much of the Oakville property is of this 

 character. The Vigorosa shows better growth in the Crabb vineyard 

 than any other of the resistant stocks tested there. In fact, it has been 

 specialty marked on account of its exceptional growth. In many cases 

 the shoots from it have been trained to vines 8 and 16 feet away to 

 protect them from injury. 



Luther Burbank, of Santa Rosa, says that there is no question about 

 the resistant qualities of the Rampendahl Vigorosa, and that it is 

 worthy of experimenting with upon its wood and root development 

 alone. 



Mr. GORDON. A gentleman stated, or rather advised the grape- 

 growers of Fresno, not to import rooted resistant vine stocks into the 

 county until such time as they are sure they have phylloxera, for he 

 said whenever resistant stocks are imported the phylloxera comes with 

 them. 



Capt. H. A. BRAINARD. I know of the results in three or four or 

 five instances in Santa Clara County, where they were the centers of 



