48 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



growing syringed with what one of my men used to call a " weak 

 delusion " of soft-soap and sulphur. But if the sensitive berries 

 are set, these strong measures must be modified, and the treat- 

 ment prolonged in a milder form, lest haply our Grapes should 

 colour prematurely. 



And this leads me to suggest (with great diffidence, as becomes 

 a mere empiric) that the Oidium which fastens on the foliage is 

 a fungus not only distinct, but also fostered by different conditions 

 from those which assault the stalk and berry. The attack upon 

 the berry is even more pestilent and hard to deal with ; but I 

 have never yet seen it proceed directly from the affection of the 

 foliage. I do not mean to say that if the latter is neglected it 

 may not extend to the other — indeed it would be pretty sure to 

 do so ; but, so far as my own observation goes, the assaults are 

 not simultaneous. Mildew on the foliage is bad enough, but 

 mildew on the berry is far worse, being so much less accessible. 

 Sulphuring the bunch, and then dipping it when ripe in a bucket 

 of clean water — a course which has been even lately recom- 

 mended — is a very poor proceeding, and the Grapes are not fit 

 to be looked at. The proper course is to remove every berry 

 that shows the fatal pearliness, or the whole bunch, if it can be 

 spared ; take it out of the house, and burn it. Then change the 

 conditions which have bred the evil, soak the soil with water 

 almost hot, close every ventilator, fill the house with warmth, 

 and syringe the floor with soft-soap and sulphur mixed, if you 

 fear to paint the pipes with it. 



Every gardener knows all this ; but some young gardeners 

 seem not to know the very great danger of " giving bottom- 

 air " — as the expression goes — too soon. I am sure that, in the 

 main, these sudden attacks of mildew arise from chill, from 

 ungenial currents of air, which check the rapid growth and 

 prepare the surface for receiving the hovering enemy. Every 

 grower of Grapes has his own crotchet, or, as he would rather 

 have it called, his own enlightened theory ; and in these delights 

 I join him. Grapes are grown well, as many of us have 

 observed, under different and sometimes diametrically opposite 

 systems ; but, in spite of all that, there comes a time when 

 principles reassert themselves, and the innovator scratches a 

 too fertile head. 



Why is it almost impossible now to ripen a crop of comely 



