in which patches of a vineyard have continued unaffected amidst the surrounding devastation, owing to the absence in those particular parts of the soil, of the argillaceous element.
A forcible illustration of this malign influence of clay in the soil is afforded by the following analyses of two specimens of earth taken from the same vineyard. The specimen marked “healthy” was from a small plot of ground in which the vines were perfectly sound; that distinguished as “unhealthy” formed by far the greater portion of the soil of the vineyard, the plants growing in which were all suffering from the ravages of the parasite:—
| Healthy. | Unhealthy. | |
| Water | 2·25 | 3·20 |
| Nitrogen | 0·11 | 0·12 |
| Sulphate of calcium | 0·62 | 0·42 |
| Chloride of sodium | 1·15 | 0·18 |
| Carbonate of calcium | 49·00 | 42·00 |
| Siliceous sand | 23·50 | 10·20 |
| Clay | 17·75 | 37·50 |
| Organic substances and error of analysis. | 5·62 | 6·38 |
| ———— | ———— | |
| 100·00 | 100·00 |
From the locality already indicated, where it had first developed itself in 1865, the vine disease gradually extended until, in the year 1873, it was ravaging the vineyards of the Gard, Vaucluse, Isère, Herault, Drôme, Bouches du Rhone, Ardèche, Basses-Alpes, Var, the Gironde, and the Charentes, since which time it has gradually continued to spread into the adjacent districts.
“We may gain a more precise idea than can be afforded by a mere observation of the geographical extension of the disease, of the disastrous nature of the ravages of the Phylloxera, by the examination of some of the statistics of the grape-crop in successive years, in some of the departments attacked. Thus, in the Department of Vaucluse, where the disease showed itself in 1866, there were in 1866, according to the results obtained by the departmental commission instituted at Avignon to observe on the new vine-disease, 6000 hectares absolutely dead or dying, and a much larger number already attacked, which have since succumbed to the parasite. Out of the 30,000 hectares of vineyards comprised in this department, 25,000, or five sixths of the total
area, have been destroyed. In the Gard, where the vine flourishes better than in the above-mentioned department, the ravages of the disease are yet most terrible; for in 1871, in the Arrondissement of Uzes, but one half of the average crop was produced, and in the Arrondissement of Nismes a tenth part of the crop was destroyed. These proportions, moreover, have increased since that year.
“If we examine the mischief done in the less extended areas of the communes, we shall obtain a still clearer idea of the rapid spread of the disease:—
“Commune of Graveson.
| 1865-66-67 | mean crop | 10,000 | hectolitres. |
| 1868 | ” | 5,500 | ” |
| 1869 | ” | 2,200 | ” |
| 1870 | ” | 400 | ” |
| 1871 | ” | 205 | ” |
| 1872 | ” | 100 | ” |
| 1873 | ” | 50 | ” |
“In the Commune of Maillanne the crop in 1868 was only 40 per cent. of the average of the three preceding years, while in 1869 it was only 10 per cent. In the Commune of Eyragues the crop in 1868 was about 33 per cent. of the average of the three preceding years, and in 1869 there was a further falling off of about 10 per cent. In 1870 the crop in the three above-named communes was almost entirely destroyed. From instances such as these, fairly selected from many others equally tragic in their stern figures, we may form some idea of the magnitude of the disaster. Indeed, it is difficult to see, so rapid is the extension of the disease, how, unless some potent and effective remedy can be soon applied, any vine-bearing district in France can escape the visitation of the Phylloxera.”[105]