The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-27
What He Thinks Caused the
Very Mysterious "Vine
Disease"
STILL A PUZZLE TO EXPERTS.
Professor Newton 3. Pierce Has
Been Working on 1t for
Decade.


this State and the wine interests. Indeed
ordinarily accepted sense of that word, for
it was purely local phenomenon and was
ephemeral in it's character. There are only
isolated cases of it now-few, if any, really
fatal to the vines, and it is by no means
contagious.
Clarence J. Wetmore, the executive Off
Ger of the Viticultural Commission, makes
what growers will probably consider as
being about the best explanation of it that
has been made SO far. Professor Pierce has
spent several years in its investigation
from a scientific standpoint, and in 1891
submitted very exhaustive report to the
Department OF Agriculture, indicative of
thorough and painstaking work, the con-
clusion of it all being that the "disease"
remained still an unsolvable mystery. No
solution for it has yet been found by Pro-
lessor Pierce.
The Viticultural Commission itself had
an expert go to the SoutheJn portion of
the State, in the person OF Ethelbert
Dowlen, at considerable expense. He used
the microscope freely and went carefully
into details and hypothesis, but he, too,
left it where he found it-a mystery.
Sciences was also employed by the COM
mission to make an investigation, and the
State University took hand in the matter
under Professor Hilgard's direction, but,
while all the symptoms of the so-called
malady were described infinitely and
numerous cases were diagnosed, analysed
and compared, the problem still remained
unsolyed, The professor never could tell
the cause.
1t was in 1884 that the phenomenon APP
peared first in the vicinity OF Anaheim,
and from this fact the commission called
it the "Anaheim disease" That year it
spread to North Pomona and seemed to
stop there for while. There had been
very heavy rainfall that winter-some-
thing between 40 and so inches, according
to Mr.. Wetmore's recollection, in sec
ton which usually receives not more than
II or Is inches-and this was followed by
a season of excessive heat. The subsoil
there is mostly of strong alkali nature.
Next year it appeared in Santa Ana and
the following one in Orange, Tustin, Full
Gabriel, ALEXANDRIA and Burbank. There
were appearances of it later on in several
other places, and finally few cases were
reported from Riverside and El Cajon, and
the Sweetwater Valley at San Diego in
1889. Since then it has been dying out,
until only few very isolated cases are
scattered over this State and Arizona.
The results at first were very disastrous,
the vines on 10000 acres mostly dying dur
ing the very first year. The fatal effects
subsequently, were less and less. though
the phenomenon spread all the way to San
Diego.
Proceeding upon the assumption that it
was a disease and not mere natural effect
of excessive saturation of the soil followed
by excessive heat and it's influence upon
oil yali ~ ho 1hSni N w
it drew to the surface, Professor Pierce and
Mr.. Dowlen went looking about for para
site or fungus causes, and magnitied into
importance every experiment with drain
age, irrigation, soil, temperature and light
to argue that the cause could not be found
in climatic changes or soil ingredients.
Mr.. DOwlen in his report, Su omitted June
l, 1890, to the Viticultural Commission, de-
scribed the ''malady" very fully. Summed
up it amounted to this:
First the leaves became discolored, showing
yellow spots and patches, which, beginning
small, soon spread In black varieties the yell
low patches turned red and eventually became
brown and dead. In white varieties the yellow
spots retained their color until they became
brown and dead. The edges of the leaves first
deadened and then curled up as If scorched or
frosted, and eventually the whole leaf dies and
falls off, and afterward the lamina drops off
too, leaving the petiole attached to the cane.
AS the disease progresses from year to year
u.s.
soon have their edges blackened and curled
up the blossoms become slightly affected; the
fruit is attacked, shrivels and dries up, some
times, however, hardening and souring in
stead; and, ultimately, the canes are very
much dwarfed or lattened and the vine dies.
Some of the vines may struggle on for years.
Some Mataro vines were attacked in August
of one year. The leaves dropped and the fruit
died on the vines, and before winter many OF
the vines were dead. Those that were left came
out somewhat weakly the year following, dying
Oft ftn hot az 10 n M n I'll
cally. the whole plat was dead before winter.
Under the microscope the dried up canes
were found almost entirely devoid of starch, or
1t was present only in scattered grains, which
were small in size, often eroded and discolored.
Bacteria were found in abundance, and also
various forms of fungi, but no insects were met
with which could have had anything to do
with causing the disease, and it could not be
traced to phylloxera, there being none in the
district whatever. Once in while there had
been an invasion of army worms or attack of
cutworms.
Mr.. Dowlen found a great many points
of resemblance between the phenomenon
and the Sicilian disease of "Mal-Ne ro,"
but there were also many points of differ
ence. Abundant fungi were present in
both, but whether as cause or effect was
not known.
Two months after he sent in his report
he appended statement to the effect that
drought and sun heat had each played an
important part during the hot spells of
June, July and August of that year.
At the same time Mr.. Dowlen gave the
result of his investigations, which had
been carried on under Commissioner J. de
Barth Shorb's supervision at San Gabriel,
Professor Pierce, who had spent several
years examining into the phenomenon,
with headquarters at Santa Ana, and had
devoted six months leave of absence to
tour of countries along the Mediterra-
mean. mainly France, Italy, Sicily and
Algeria, to make comparisons, sent his re-
port to the Department of Agriculture.
He could not say that Mal-Nero or
Rougeot or Folletage had anything to do
with the "Anaheim disease" ana taking
the results of experiments from eighteen
vineyards from this State doubted that the
excessive rainfall of 1884 or the charac-
ter of the soil had anything to do with it.
Sandy soil, however, preserved the vines
BEST The effect of shade on them he
thought important and he discussed the
influences of light and temperature.
Some varieties of grapes he found much
more capable of resisting than others, the
Mission and Sultana varieties being most
easily affected. Thus, stocks which had
come from imported parentage succumbed
easily, while the hardy native vines re-
sisted to the last and died hard. He
divided the varieties into three classes,