GRAPE PHYLLOXERA. 'dW' 



nndesirable flavor, we may discard these varieties entirely, and still be rich in 

 varieties, so long as we have the Concord, the Hartford Prolific, the Israella^ 

 Rogers No. 4 (Wilder), No. 9 (Lindly), No. 23 (Salem), and No. 15 (Agawam), 

 all of which seem to resist the Phylloxera very well^and the attendant evils of 

 mildew and late ripening of fruit, with a bright prospect of obtaining still 

 other and more desirable varieties by skillful crossing and selecting from those 

 which have proved insect-proof. Yet it behooves us all to look into this mat- 

 ter of the Phylloxera, for very likely ranch of our ill success with certain varie- 

 ties has been owing to a cause of which we had no knowledge, or even suspi- 

 cion. 



Yet in our sister State of the far west,— California, — of which we are all 80> 

 justly proud, where foreign grapes are so extensively and successfully grown^ 

 "the danger is obvious and threatening. Isolated as she is, and protected by 

 such lines of mighty earthworks as the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, 

 and by G,000 miles of unbroken ocean, whose untiring surges are ever speak- 

 ing to those golden shores of warmth and safety, she has heretofore been free 

 from not only the grape scourge, but scores of other insect ills which her less 

 fortunate sisters of the east have to endure. But unmixed good seldom comeg 

 to us; and California, though she will reap great benefit by the breaking down 

 of those high walls of isolation through the skill of the engineer and the 

 energy of commercial enterprise, will the sooner become a prey to the vast 

 horde of insects which, from the Eastern States, Europe, and the Celestial 

 Empire, are eager to slip in and possess so fair an empire. Already there is 

 some evidence of the presence of the Phylloxera in those magnificent vine- 

 yards that reach far up the hill-slopes of the Sonoma and Napa valleys. What 

 State can so illy afford to neglect entomology ? During a three years' resi- 

 dence in that State I saw hardly the mark of an insect in any of her many 

 and varied fruits,— a state of things which can only be perpetuated by calling 

 in the aid of entomology. 



REMEDIES. 



The only remedy which has so far proved effectual, despite the efforts of all 

 scientific Europe, impelled by the stupendous interests involved and the largest 

 prize ever offered for a like object, is that of flooding the land. It is found 

 that submersion for thirty or forty days after the season's growth has subsided 

 is absolute extermination to the lice of the vineyard and no injury to the vines. 

 This will lessen the gloom for California, as her irrigating arrangements will 

 afford excellent facilities for submersion. 



Bisulphide of carbon, so useful in protecting our zoological museums from 

 insect pests, has also been tried with some success as a destroyer of the grape 

 phylloxera. To use it, holes are punched into the earth, the fluid turned in, 

 and then the holes filled up with earth. The gaseous emanations from this 

 very volatile substance penetrating the earth destroys the lice and not the vines. 

 Yet this substance, which at first gave great hope to the sufferers, is not found 

 a practical remedy. It is too costly, too difficult of application, not sufficiently 

 effective, and unsafe as a general preventive from its exceedingly explosive 

 nature. 



In the number for May 15 of that admirable English journal of horticulture, 

 The Garden, it is stated that Prof. Dumas has found sulphuric carbonate of pot- 

 ash (K S C S') an excellent remedy for this terrible pest. It is just sprinkled 

 on the ground in form of powder, and the solution carried by means of raiii 



