FIGHTING LEAF-HOPPERS IX THE VIXEYARD.* 



F. H. HALL. 

 The grape leaf-hopper, or " thrips " is by no means 

 Increase a new insect; but its numbers are sometimes so 

 of the small and its injuries so inconspicuous that it5 

 insect. presence in the vineyard is disregarded. Occasion- 

 ally there comes a year, however, or a series of 

 years, when the tiny creatures become so numerous as to fill the 

 air at picking time, thus greatly annoying the vineyard workers. 

 At such times, also, the student of grape quality notes a greatly 

 increased proportion of poorly colored, insipid flavored or sour 

 grapes; and, sometimes, as in 1910 and 1911 and even more notice- 

 ably in 1901 and 1902, in the Chautauqua and Erie grape belt the 

 quantity of grapes in many vineyards is decidedly lessened by 

 the countless hordes of these minute pests. During 1910 and 1911 

 those growers having infested vineyards who protected their vines 

 against the " hoppers " secured a profitable crop increase, to say 

 nothing of the fact that their fruit was not rejected because of 

 poor quality by the makers of grape juice, and was in better con- 

 dition for the packing of basket fruit for dessert use. For several 

 seasons the pest has been increasing in Chautauqua county; but 

 whether 1911 marked the crest of the wave or whether a worse in- 

 festation is to come in 1912, no one can say. The countless mil- 

 lions of the mature hoppers that went into winter quarters last 

 fall certainly promise trouble for the growers this summer unless 

 weather conditions or other influences reduce their numbers before 

 grape foliage appears. 



*A reprint of "Popular Edition" of Bulletin No. 344; see p. 367 for the 

 Bulletin. 



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