A VISIT TO THE BEST FRENCH VINEYARDS. 



279 



are more or less covered and concealed by 

 the glazing before named. 



All this is, doubtless, the work of one 

 insect — a female Cicada; but whether of 

 the species commonly called " the seven- 

 teen-year locust," or of some other species, 

 is unknown to me; and I can only add, 

 that the perforations and eggs are similar 

 to those that I have seen produced by the 

 former insect. 



You are aware, perhaps, that the Cicada 

 grubs, as soon as they are hatched, drop 

 voluntarily from the trees, burrow in the 

 ground, and attach themselves, by their 

 little beaks, to the roots, upon the juices 

 of which they subsist. Miss Morris, of 

 Germantown, Penn., has made some inte- 

 resting observations on their habits in the 

 grub state, [see Hort., vol II, p. 15,] and 

 finds them to be very injurious to the trees 

 whose roots they attack. You will find a 

 pretty full account of the Cicada septemde- 

 cim in my Treatise on Insects injurious to 

 veo-etation. 



Whether the punctures of this or of any 

 other species of Cicada will produce the 

 warty excrescences that disfigure the plum 

 tree, must be determined by further obser- 

 vation. Insects have repeatedly been found 

 in the plum tree warts; but 7iot invariably, 

 according to my experience. The plum 

 weevil often deposits in them, and occasion- 

 ally also the peach tree borer, as well as 

 another and smaller species of jEgeria. 

 Nevertheless, I incline to the opinion, main- 

 tained by the late Dr. Burnett, that the 

 warts are originally the result of disease. 

 It is here found that, by cutting them off 

 when small, and washing the wound with 

 strong brine, the disease will be arrested, 

 and the wound will finally heal. 



I enclose the specimen, with the letter of 

 your correspondent, and remain. 



My dear sir, very truly, 

 Your friend and servant, 

 Thaddeus Wm. Harris. 



Cambridge, Mass-, Oct. 25, 1848. 



A VISIT TO THB BEST FRENCH VINEYARDS. 



BY H. W. SARGENT, OF WODENETHE, N. Y. 



The following account of the vineyards of 

 Medoc, written by a neighbor and friend, 

 now abroad, and received by a late steam- 

 er, will greatly interest many of our read- 

 ers now engaged in the culture of the vine, 

 especially on the banks of the Ohio. 



It is, we believe, pretty well established 

 now, that the peculiar adaptation of these 

 rocky and apparently sterile soils to the pro- 

 duction of fine wine, is owing to their con- 

 taining an abundance of the inorganic ele- 

 ments, (especially lime and potash,) so es- 

 sential to the perfection of the grape. For- 

 eign cultivators, however, so far as we 



know, have never yet endeavored to im- 

 prove ordinary vineyard soils by the neces- 

 sary specific mineral manures. We hope 

 our intelligent cultivators at the west will 

 turn their attention to this. Ed. 



I wrote 3^ou in the accompanying letter, 

 that we had visited pretty thoroughly the 

 wine districts, where I examined carefully 

 the soil, the vines, the grapes, — in fact, 

 lived in the atmosphere for some time, and 

 the following is the result of my inquiries, 

 assisted in the statistical parts by some 

 French works on the vine. 



In the first place, I would premise that I 



