March 1.1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
171 
say prefers with strict regard to the conditions of health in the higher 
quality Grapes, that is the hillside-loving Frontignans and Muscats, in 
contradistinction from the coarse valley Grapes—Alicante, Gros Maroc, 
and Gros Colman. Why is precedence given to the latter before all 
late Grapes ? Is it not because it is fitted to the environment—the rich 
soil and damp situation ? In such places and soil It is no use attempt¬ 
ing to grow the richly flavoured, thin-skinned Grapes, for they shank 
and are unprofitable. It is equally useless stewing them in close, moist, 
saturated atmospheres, for ulceration of the stem of the bunch may set 
in, and if we examine one such gouty place, say on the stem of a bunch 
of Muscat of Alexandria, we find outgrowths, and these, under a 
moderate power of the microscope, are visible as a very pretty plant with 
hyaline spores or seeds in terminal clusters (fig. 2S, C). It is Polyactis 
cinerea rendering Grapes in the Khine valley worth £230 per ton. 
Unfortunately there is a condition, and that entirely obliterated in this 
case, for the fungus is not a simple mould overspreading the surface of 
the Grapes, nor even a saprophyte, but a parasite with its mycelium 
traversing the living tissues, destroying the cells and abstracting their 
contents. This condition of the fungus is shown in fig. 2, D, a, dropped 
spores ; h, mycelium ; c, threads permeating the intercellular spaces ; 
d, intact cells; e, destroyed tissue, nothing remaining but the woody 
fibres. 
The inference will probably be drawn from the foregoing that the 
fungus is the cause of the disease, and so it is in so far as the destruction 
of the tissues is concerned, for a spore or spores has alighted on that 
particular spot on the stem of the bunch, which germinating has been 
able to push its germinal tubes (there are several emitted from each 
spore) through the cuticle, and so gained access to the underlying cells. 
These germ tubes emit a certain fluid which softens the epidermis, and 
this the thread will pierce if it can, gaining entrance by an opening 
perhaps not one-sixth of its own diameter. Once beneath the skin it 
soon attains enormous proportions, and weakens the tissues so as to have 
no difficulty in pushing its outgrowths into the air, reproducing itself 
by spores wherever it may get chance. This fungus also attacks the 
bunch stems of Gros Colman and Alicante, and the reason is they are 
soft or gross. Albeit the Vines may be long-jointed in wood and flabby 
in leaf, loose in bunch and sappy in footstalk and stem, yet they may 
not be attacked by this or any other fungus. It is a question of spores— 
seed. If there are none of those there cannot be any plants, and there 
is no chance whatever of realising £230 per ton for the Grapes, not 
because there is no beneficial mould for wine-making, but from the fact 
that such Grapes will shank. What? Without the fungus? Ah ! there 
is a great deal of shanking without the presence of any fungus being 
discovered, for though I have examined many shanked Grapes, I have 
only found Polyactis cinerea occasionally. ‘‘ This makes shanking more 
obscure than ever,” some may say. I do not think so ; it is the greed 
of the cultivator that lies at the root of shanking—the rich soil, the 
extra feeding, the stewpan system of growing Grapes. Top spit loam, 
mere paring of the richest pasture, in some cases crammed full of end¬ 
less organic matter, which, becoming a soapy mass, is the foundation of 
shanking. Anyone can prove this by adding calcareous gravel to a 
sodden Vine border so as to form at least half of it, providing efficient 
drainage, and according good management. Every good natural Vine 
soil contains at least 75 per cent, of gravel or small stones. 
Of Grapes examined for ascertaining the cause of shanking I have 
invariably found a micro-organism, sometimes associated with the 
fungal filaments in the diseased Grapes, but oftener without than with 
Polyactis cinerea, yet there have been some undetermined threads in a 
few instances where no mycelium of that fungus was detected. The 
micro-organism found in shanked Grapes has proved identical in all 
varieties examined, and was found in close conjugation with the stones 
or seeds, the fertilisation in many cases having been defective, as 
instanced by their abortive formation, and shown in fig. 29, E at /, the 
PIG. 29. 
Section of shanked Alicante Grape (berry)—Bacillus ethaceto-succinicus, Frankland. 
shanking being represented at g. The section is that of a berry of 
Alicante, which was particularly large, and a mass of Polyactis cinerea 
both within the berries and on the footstalks and stems of the berries 
and bunch, some of the berries having rotted off as shown at h h. 
On subjecting a little of the juice of the shanked Alicante berry to 
examination with a high power of the microscope, the forms shown in 
fig. 29, F, were revealed, which has a closer resemblance to Bacillus 
ethaceto-succinicus than to B. ethaceticus. The latter is stated by Prof. 
Percy Faraday Frankland, F.R.S., to act on mannite, but not on 
dulcite, while the former decomposes both mannite and dulcite. In 
close contact with the seeds, and resting upon them, I found the bodies 
figured at G, and considered them spores. On the ocsurrence of these 
bodies in the Grape I offer no opinion, suffice it to record the fact, and 
give others an opportunity of making whatever investigations they may 
deem proper. I may say, however, that I found these bodies in shanked 
berries of Gros Colman, and they were even larger as regards the bacilli, 
but the spores were smaller. 
There was also Polyactis cinerea in the examples of shanked Gros 
Colman Grapes. In Muscat of Alexandria shanked Grapes I found the 
bacilli smaller, shorter, and thinner, but the spores were larger, and 
some of them square or rectangular in shape, and the berries contained 
only one seed in some cases, the others not rie'n? formed. The tacilli 
was more rod-shaped in Black Muscat (Muscat Hamburgh) berries, and 
they seemed to break up into minute square or rectangular bodies, 
similar to the vinegar micro-organism. This square or rectangular form 
was even more decided in the shanked juice of Black Hamburgh berries, 
and I found that these square forms ultimately contracted—that is, had 
the angles rounded off, and assumed the form of spore depicted. The 
Grapes were examined on October 20th, 1893, and sketches of all are 
kept for future guidance. 
I should be glad to have the views of other readers on this perplex¬ 
ing question, and like to know if anyone has sown the seeds of shanked 
berries, and if so will kindly state the result.—G. Abbey. 
TRADE CATALOGUES RECEIVED. 
P. Barr k. Son, King Street, Covent Garden, W.C.— Hardy Her- 
baceous Perennials. 
B. R. Davies, The Nurseries, Yeovil.— Catalogue of Begonias. 
Dicksons, Limited, Chester.— Farm Seeds, 
Chas. Toope & Son, Stepney Square, London, E.— Heating Ap¬ 
pliances. 
Vilmorin, Audrieux &Co., 4, Quai de la M^gisserie, Paris.— Catalogue 
of Dahlias and Cannas, 
