FOREWORD

It is worth noting that viticulture had not been accorded a separate section in any of the 19 previous congresses. There were many reasons for this: grapes, being the world's most important fruit and figuring so largely in the economy of several countries, have for a long time been the subject of meetings by other organizations, the most noteworthy being L'Office International de la Vigne et du Vin. The planners of the XXth Congress felt that there might be a sufficient number of delegates who would like to contribute viticultural papers within the context of a general horticultural gathering. This judgement proved to be correct. In fact the section had a highly stimulating and successful series of meetings.

The symposium "Vineyards in the Year 2000" was one of the highlights. The majority of the other sessions of the section were concerned with details of the functioning of various parts of the grapevine, and the consequent effects on grape cultivation. Because of this it was decided to provide a balancing session wherein vineyards were considered as enterprises. The title was selected to give the symposium a futuristic flavour and, hopefully, some predictive value. The chairman of the symposium was M. Max Rives of I.N.R.A. Departement de Genetique et d'Amelioration des Plantes, Paris, and the co-chairman, Dr. Peter May of C.S.I.R.O. Division of Horticultural Research, Adelaide.

B. G. Coombe
Section Chairman