76 Auierican Horticultural Socieft/. 



county, New York, and as to whether the grape phylloxera {Phylluxera vas- 

 tatrix) hail anything to do with such diseased condition, it becomes necessary 

 that I suinniarize the points made in your various incjuiries sent to this De- 

 partment since the first of July last, and particularly those made since my 

 return from Europe. The following facts become manifest from a review of 

 this correspendence : 



"1st. The plants were obtained by j'ou from the well-known firms (A Ell- 

 wanger & Barry, of Rochester, and Hopes Bro. it Thomas, of Cherry Hill 

 Nurseries, Westchester, Pa., and shijjped direct to where they were planted- 

 They were grown in pots in the usual way, and they were planted in the 

 borders of a new grapery the latter part of last February. They were strong 

 two-year-old plants, to all appearance in splendid condition, made up of lead- 

 ing exotic varieties. Black Hamburgs, etc. The borders, from all reports, 

 were carefully prepared last autumn and winter, the materials used being 

 old rotted sod made into compost, with the usual proportion of bone dust. 



" 2d. About the middle of June, after the vines had made several feet of 

 healthy growth, the lower leaf-stalks began to weaken, allowing the two or 

 three basal leaves from the main shoot to droop. From the time that the 

 vines showed a failing the cause seems to have been earnestly sought for, and 

 the question as to whether it was due to phylloxera injury raised. Finally, 

 during July and August all parts of the vine began to turn yellow, the phyl- 

 loxera was noticed ujjon the roots, and Mr. Osborn, his gardener, and your- 

 self concluded that the insect was the cause of the unhealthy condition of 

 the vines. 



"Assuming such to be the case, you wish to know whether it was possible 

 that the insect got into the grapery with the material used for the border, or 

 whether it could have entered in some other way ? 



"On the supposition that the insect had been introduced on the vines you 

 sold, you were held responsible by Mr. Osborn for their failure. This was 

 the condition of the case when, on the 20th of September, you visited the 

 Department and conferred with me in reference to tlie matter. I told you 

 then that, from all the facts, I felt assured that you had arrived at a wrong 

 conclusion in attributing the diseased condition of the vines to phylloxera, 

 but that I would postpone making you an official report until I had made a 

 personal examination of the case. My conclusions are now quite definite, so 

 that I feel warranted in reporting with assurance, from the examination 

 made of the vine sent early in July, as well as of those received later, both 

 from the Cherry Hill Nurseries and from Mr. Osborn's grapery, that the 

 vines were healthy and exceptionally free from phylloxera when they came 

 from the nursery, and that even up to the time of their being uprooted and 

 destroyed the phylloxera work had at no time been sufficient to do them 

 material harm. A root received October 2, and tiiat had already been thrown 

 away, showed no rotting, and so few traces of phylloxera that I considered 

 very generally over the country east of the Rocky MounUiins; that no vine- 

 yard, unless in an exceptional situation, is free from it. Ordinarily, how- 



