THE ENEMIES OF THE VINE. 



49 



Grapes in the open air of England, although in good summers 

 it used to be done, even in the time of Clement Hoare, and more 

 freely in the ancient days ? Nearly forty years ago, without 

 the doubtful blessing of experience, I could grow very fine 

 bunches of Black Hamburgh against an unprotected wall — not, 

 of course, such Grapes as we see here, but far above any that 

 I ever see now as products of the open. There is no failing in 

 the average summer heat, as any meteorologist will prove to us ; 

 the cause of the failure is mainly, I believe, to be found in that 

 pestilence — mildew. This has discouraged folk even from trying ; 

 for, as sure as eggs are eggs, open-air Grapes are now attacked 

 with Oidium. And that stopped my further attempts in that line. 



Before quitting this branch of % my subject — with which I 

 fear to be sadly wearisome — I am bound to refer to a special 

 evil, to which (as out of every evil cometh good) I chiefly owe 

 the honour of being here. A certain malady, comparatively 

 new, or at any rate not yet investigated duly and scientifically, 

 has visited my Vines for some years now, and proved fatal to not 

 a few of them. Mr. Barron, in his admirable work upon the 

 Vine, has kindly inserted a few remarks which I ventured to 

 offer about it. Others, no doubt, are acquainted with this pest ; 

 but the doubtful honour belongs to me of being the first in the 

 country to sing out about it. It is not unknown at Chiswick 

 now, though I have not seen the instances. There is a violent 

 and virulent disease of fungoid nature described in the first 

 edition of Mr. Barron's book, and there entitled Anthracnose ; 

 elsewhere, I think, called Melanitis. That great mycologist, 

 Mr. Berkeley, believed it to be identical with the " Black-spot " 

 of Australia and the "Black-rot" of America. My tormenter 

 resembles this more nearly than any other I can find described ; 

 yet the symptoms are not identical. In the cases I am familiar 

 with no blackness is apparent until the last stage of the 

 disease is reached. The tip of the shoot is first attacked, and 

 the crinkle of the unexpanded leaf, which becomes of a dirty 

 wash-leather colour and loses its pellucidity. Then the leaves 

 that are expanded further down the shoot become cupped and 

 concave on the lower side, convex on the upper, and lose their 

 grailing. All the shoot becomes dull, and its crispness is gone ; 

 and, if pinched, it indents without breaking. The disease — 

 unless checked at the outset — descends the stem very quickly, 

 runs into the older wood, and destroys the Vine. 



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