Let them rather admit that they can not raise some kinds,
but may others. If a variety were persistently diseased, feeble,
and unproductive under good treatment, I should root it out rather
than continue to nurse and coddle it.
When mildew and grape-rot first appear, the evil can often be
remedied in part by dusting the vines with sulphur, and continuing
the process until the disease is cured, if it ever is. I have
never had occasion to do this, and will not do it. A variety that
often requires such nursing in this favored locality should be
discarded.
There is one kind of disease, or feebleness rather, to which we
are subject everywhere, and from which few varieties are exempt.
It is the same kind of weakness which would be developed in a fine
sound horse if we drove him until he dropped down every time we
took him out. Cultivated vines are so far removed from their
natural conditions that they will often bear themselves to death,
like a peach-tree. To permit this is a true instance of avarice
overreaching itself; or the evil may result from ignorance or
neglect. Close pruning in autumn and thinning out the crowding
clusters soon after they have formed is the remedy. If a vine had
been so enfeebled, I should cut it back rigorously, feed it well,
and permit it to bear very little fruit, if any, for a year.
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