

THE 



GARDENER. 



JANUARY 1873. 



PHYLIiOXEHA VASTATKIX. 



DETICULTURISTS have within the last few years had 

 a most formidable addition to the host of foes with 

 which they have to grapple in the successful cultivation 

 of the Grape-Yine. And it is scarcely possible to con- 

 ceive of a more insidious and destructive enemy than the new invader 

 — Phylloxera vastatrix — is proving itself to be. Any who have had 

 an opportunity of watching the destructive power of this tiny insect, 

 will not be at all surprised to know that the French Government are 

 so alarmed at its appearance that they have offered a reward of a mil- 

 lion francs to any person who will devise a means of destroying the 

 pest, without, at the same time, destroying the Vines — especially 

 when the enormous interest that France has at stake in her vineyards 

 is taken into consideration. According to the report of E. L. Beck- 

 with, Esq., on the Vines of the Universal Exhibition at Paris in 1868, 

 the quantity of wine manufactured annually in France amounts to 

 831,000,000 gallons, exclusive of 165,000,000 distilled into brandy. 

 Taking this enormous quantity at the very low average rate of 2s. 6cl. 

 per gallon, it can easily be understood why France is so much concerned 

 and dismayed at the progress of a foe which perils the very existence 

 of her vineyards, and how this army of insects threatens to be a more 

 Ol formidable foe, in a pecuniary sense, than the squadrons of the German 

 ■r— Emperor. It is already committing alarming ravages in some of the 

 CN! wine departments of France, and has spread into Spain, Portugal, 

 G^2 and Austria. 



^— About eight years ago the Phylloxera unfortunately made itself 

 ^-^ known in this country, and has proved fatal to the Vines in some 



