Traitement des vignes malades
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Study and conclusions on the oïdium crisis. With provenance
Heuzé, Gustave
Traitement des vignes malades
Rapport adressé à M. le Ministre de l'Intérieur
1853, Paris, Dusacq, Librairie Agricole de la Maison Rustique
First Edition
€188,95 EUR
Sale price
€188,95 EUR
Regular price
Overview
In 8vo. Pp. [1] f.e., 70, [2], [1] r.e.
Right at the time of the first European oïdium emergency, Heuze writes as an agronomist commissioned by the state, answering letters of 9 and 27 August 1852 that required him to test proposed remedies against the disease. By the early 1850s oidium had moved from a botanical observation to a national agricultural emergency, threatening harvests across the French wine regions. The report is framed as a ministerial letter from Versailles, dated 3 March 1853, to Jean Gilbert Victor Fialin, Comte de Persigny, Minister of the Interior, Agriculture, and Commerce under Napoleon III. Vine disease is treated as a matter for inquiry, experiment, and public recommendation rather than estate management.
Inside the book
The report opens with the Premiere Partie, which traces the disease from its first observation in 1843 by the gardener Tucker at Margate, on the greenhouse and open-air vines of Mr. Slater, to its identification by the Reverend Berkeley of Bristol as the fungus Oidium Tuckeri. Heuze follows its passage from England to Belgium and France, where by 1851 it affected every wine-growing region. The Deuxieme Partie, "Experiences et remedes," turns to remedies tested in the field: washing the stocks with cold or boiling water, oxysulfide of calcium, and the procede Bergmann, devised by Baron de Rothschild's head gardener and useful only on forced vines. The twenty-one numbered conclusions recommend only fleur de soufre projected dry and eau-Grison, deny the possibility of fully curing infected stocks, and warn against treatment before oidium appears.
Condition
19th century half-cloth binding; printed paper label to the spine that appears to be taken from the original wrappers. Ex-libris Friedrich von Bassermann-Jordan (1872-1959), German wine estate owner, viticultural pioneer, and the most influential wine historian of his era, author of Geschichte des Weinbaus, which is the wine library of record for German viticultural history. Ink stamp to the half title with same provenance. Foxing throughout, but very good.
Dimensions (inches): 9 x 5 1/2 x 1/8
Why La Fenice likes it
A report from inside the first great modern vineyard epidemic. In 1853, with oïdium spreading through France and remedies still being tested and argued over, Heuzé reports directly to the Minister of the Interior on what might actually save the vines. We like the immediacy: this is viticultural science being worked out while the crisis is still unfolding.
About the author
Gustave Heuzé (1816-1907) was a French agronomist and professor at the École d'agriculture de Grignon, and one of the leading agricultural writers of nineteenth-century France.
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