STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 201 



ing insect innocently crawls into a well-laid trap, which gives no 

 outward sign, even by an obnoxious odor. According to the experi- 

 ence had thus far, it seems quite likely that the unwary travelers 

 would tind themselves ensnared before they had any intimation of 

 danger; and as there can be no doubt that the great bulk of the 

 ingress and egress ordinarily takes place along the trunk of the vines 

 after the egg laid by some wanderer on the leaves or branches has 

 hatched, it can hardly be doul)ted that a considerable repressive 

 influence would be exerted by Mr. Bauer's remedy, even where the 

 phylloxera already exists, and that it would also act as a fairly effec- 

 tual preventive of infection for many uninfested vineyards. 



Its universal efficacy is, however, limited by the fact that (as has 

 been observed in Europe, and quite lately and very prominently in 

 this State), not only the winged form of the insect, but even the 

 young larval one, will ascend abundantly to the surface of the ground 

 from shallow outlying rootlets, and will from thence progress slowly 

 but surely over the surface to neighboring vines. Direct proofs of 

 this fact have been had here within the last few weeks, and will be 

 published in connection with other new observations, in a subsequent 

 bulletin. It follows that when such shallow rootlets are abundant 

 (as they are in some soils), the obstacle or trap placed along the stock 

 may affect the welfare and diffusion of the insect only in a slight 

 degree. It is still true that even in this case great numbers of the 

 wanderers will perish without reaching the safe harbor of a root, 

 since most of them will try the route along the stock, and will there 

 succumb to the mercurial trap. Still some will be likely to find 

 their way down to the superficial rootlets, as the multitude found its 

 way up from them; and this will be the more surely the case the 

 more the soil is liable to be summer-cracked, or the coarser its tilth. 

 In close sandy and in well-tilled soils, on the contrary, the chances 

 of stray insects descending by chance to such rootlets would be exceed- 

 ingly slight, in case the stocks were all protected by the mercurialized 

 eartii. How great is the difficulty interposed to the progress of the 

 insect on a sandy surface can only be appreciated by those who have 

 watched the ludicrous antics it exhibits under such circumstances. 

 The incessant tumblings and backslidings soon exhaust its energies, 

 and show good reason why, notoriously, the phylloxera is compara- 

 tively harmless in very sandy, and correlatively in very well- tilled 

 soils. 



From the foregoing considerations those interested may readily 

 infer how far in their particular cases the ingenious device invented 

 by Mr. Bauer is likely to prove efficacious; and while still it will 

 undoubtedly be far better to plant resistant stock and graft, those 

 favorably situated, or those who have already planted the non- 

 resistant vine, will do well to take the proposed remedy under careful 

 consideration. 



[When, a few years ago, the vineyard plot on the University grounds 

 passed into the charge of the College of Agriculture, it was soon dis- 

 covered that it was strongly infested with the phylloxera. It was at 

 first intended to extirpate the pest as quickly as possible; but when 

 it became obvious that the law intended to prevent the further spread 

 from infested districts could and would not be enforced, the fact that 

 there are no vineyards so situated as to be liable to infection through 

 natural causes from this locality, while it offers an excellent oppor- 



