Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-03-24
SuNnAY. MACON 24. 1ssa.
About Vine.Growing.

About Vine-GrOvtng.
The greatest of all the industries OF
California is undoubtedly the vine in all
Its numerous varieties and in all its
many uses. Foremost among these uses
is that of making wine. The wines of
America must come from the Pacific
States. For while the plant is compara-
lively hardy it has never fourished to-
aEy profitable extent outside of warm, or
at least mild climates. The vine has al
ways been found coexteneive with hu-
saan civilization. From the banks OF
the Euphrates it spre ad to Western
Asia, thence to Greece, from whence it
was carried to Italy, and 80 spread all
over Southern Europe. In modern
times France has supplied most of the
wine of the world, the Hispanian PEN
insula furnishing some, and the italian
also contributing to the worlds supply.
The trouble with the Spanish and Ital-
ian vintages is that for the most part
they will not bear transportation. With
France goes the Rhine country, from
ECCtlOA Audl1 VI bhO bCsO W AElCb vi
the world come. Other portions of Ger
many grow vines and make wine, but
most of these are consumed at home.
Eight years ago there was great activ-
ity in planting vines in this State, and
this continued for some half dozen years.
1t appeared in 1886 as if in few years
California would be able to ship to the
East LOG, 900, 900 gallons of wine. Unfor.
tunately serious setback hassbeen en-
countered in the develo pment Of this
great industry of the State. First,
the French vine disease, the
phylloxera was introduced into the upper
end of this State, and the dread OF this
disease, as incurable in the vine as con-
sumption is in man, has greatly post
poned the day when Americans shall be
able to rely on California for full sup
ply of sound table wines. Then came
the fungus disease in this section, which
In three years has played such havoc
with our vineyards. The result is that
the State furnishes hardly as much wine
to-day as she did four years ago, and the
great activity in vine planting has given
place to timorous policy of deferring
all action until light is shed on the future
of the industry.
No intelligent person can for a mo-
ment hesitate as to what the outcome is
eventually to be. There is too much in
telligence and too much indomitable
courage in the minds and hearts of the
vinegrowers of this State to be long
batf1ed, or to finally succumb to the dis
ease. A remedy has already been found
for the fungus disease, and it will be ap.
piled until the vines are restored to their
pristine vigor, and the industry becomes
as profitable as it was in the first years
of this decade, when every acre of good
vines in this section was good for $3.50
per annum gross income.
OF course, one of the difficulties beset- |
ting vine-growing in this section
is the acclimatipg of European
vines. Nearly all the varieties
known here are imports from Europe,
and few of them have been in the coun-
try more than ten or a dozen years.
Take the Riesling for instance. 1t is
not generally known that this is the
identical variety found in the famous
Johannesberger vineyard of Prince Met
ternich on the banks of the Rhine. The
vine there grows on the side of steep
hillside. The soil is slatey clay,
poor and hard to work. The winters, of
course, are severe, as compared with
the genial climate of Los Angeles, and
the summers bring considerable rains to
vines. In Germany all sorts of things
are done to make the vines prolific and
the wines fine favored and of high
color. In the first place the vineyards are
for the most part small, and the owners
pay special attention to each indi.
vidusl plant. The writer few days ago
heard q German recount the means the
priest of his village resorted to in the
treatment of his vines. He had but two
or three acres. The ground was heaped
up with old bricks, put there to catch all
the rays of the sun during the day, and
keep the ground warm at night. The
priest had old shoes, and other scraps of
leather, bones and all sorts of things
brought and buried in the ground to give
certain elements to the soil. All his
ancestors had been vine-growers, and
his esoteric knowledge of the industry
vas the growth of generations.
How different is this way from ours.
Here these foreign vines are planted in
he deep, rich soil of Los Angeles. 1t is
learly all of alluvial origin. 1t lacks
many of the ingredients on which these /,
ines have been accustomed to feed. In
most instances we never do anything to
eplace what the soil is deprived of by
'roducing crop after crop. Ours is a
iirgin soil and it is of the most generous
ort. But it lacks, to begin with, many Of a
be elements required for successful vine Ii