NEW YORK GRAPES ON NEW ROOTS.* 



F. H. HALL. 



About 1860 an insect was introduced into 



A pest France that threatened the very existence of 



proves a the vineyard industry in that country. The 



benefit. phylloxera, a tiny root-feeding plant-louse 



from America found the thick, tender, juicy 



roots of the European wine grape just to its liking and French 



climatic conditions exactly suited to its rapid increase. In a few 



years, its wide-spreading devastations caused a feeling almost of 



terror among vineyardists ; for insecticides proved powerless to 



check its destructive advance. 



But in eastern America, the home of the phylloxera, the insect 

 does little harm to the many native species of grapes. Here was 

 a suggestion; so the French vineyardists brought over American 

 stocks to furnish phylloxera-resistant roots and grafted on these 

 plants cions of their favorite varieties. The phylloxera found the 

 tough, dry, woody roots of American species, particularly those of 

 the riverside, or winter, grape, as little to their liking in France 

 as in America and the vineyards were saved. More than this! 

 The European varieties on the new roots often gave better grapes 

 than ever before. Some kinds that would grow only poorly, except 

 on certain soils or in favored localities, proved much more tract- 

 able on the roots of some American species; other kinds were 

 changed in season of ripening that they reached better markets; 

 and, in other ways, perhaps less important, grafting of varieties 

 on new roots worked to the advantage of the grape-growers. The 



*A reprint of "Popular Edition" of Bulletin No. 355; see p. 489 for the 

 Bulletin. 



[860] 



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