64 THE GARDENER. [Feb. 



their roots, in other cases running through their pots into the border 

 amongst the infected Vine-roots, I never found an insect feeding on any 

 plant except the Vine, and only in a very few instances did I find them 

 trespassing on any other plant ; and when I did find them, I usually took 

 them to my office and placed them carefully under glasses, where I 

 could watch them, and their life was always cut short within 48 hours. 

 I tried to get it established on various vegetables and fruit-trees, but it 

 would not feed nor live on them. There v/ere Figs in the vineries, and 

 the pest never touched them. Consequently my experience coincides 

 with your own in that the Phylloxera will not deposit its eggs nor live 

 in any other plant but the Vine. 



" With regard to the eggs, I have kept roots and leaves with eggs and 

 live insects all through the winter ; but as soon as the sap of the leaves 

 and roots was exhausted, the eggs became shrivelled and never pro- 

 duced live insects. I took pieces of roots infested with the insect and 

 placed them in the soil into which clean Vines were potted, and in 14 

 days the roots of the pot-A^ine were swarming with insects. 



'' Before I became sufficiently cognisant of the habits of the little 

 devourer, the galls quite covered the under sides of hundreds of the 

 young leaves, and the young wood was perfectly riddled with holes 

 or punctures into which they had burrowed, feeding on the sap and 

 depositing their eggs. I could compare their operations on the young 

 wood to nothing but small-pox, so thick did they puncture it. The 

 two following years I did not allow it to get ahead much, for I picked 

 off and burned the infected leaves. 



" I had the insect nearly as bad in the outside border as inside, but 

 the borders were covered with leaves and strong wooden shutters from 

 September to May, and were consequently comparatively dry and warm. 

 There can be no doubt they thrive best in dry warm quarters, and they 

 could be easily drowned, but the difficulty lies in getting at them. 

 The small roots were eaten up. When lifting the Vines, I never 

 found any larger than a thick quill, and the strong roots were infested 

 up to the collars of the Vines." 



Such are Mr Dunn's interesting remarks on this scourge. After 

 trying numerous decoctions, such as salt and water, diluted turpentine, 

 &c., he found that though it kept the insect in check, it could never 

 be eradicated by such means without using the mixtures strong enough 

 to kill the Vines too. He then lifted the Vines and cleansed them. 

 He relates his method of doing so in the ' Transactions of the Horti- 

 cultural Society.' " I closely pruned the young wood, stripped the 

 stem clear of all loose bark, and then thoroughly washed them with a 

 stiff brush and pure water. Having thus cleansed the tops, I began 

 at the roots by lifting them carefully out of the soil and cutting away 



