Ftiniwy 15, 1872. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



VINE DISEASE AND VINE STOCKS. 



^I^^^^ROM my cliiliUiood I have cultivated the 

 (wllj^ V ^''^^' ^^'^< liaving suffered disappointment 

 on more than one occasion, I can sympathise 

 with those who have .shared the same fate. 

 Being a lover of the Vine, I wish to dir-ect 

 the attention of yom- readers to the existence 

 of a widespread (Usease which is destrojTng 

 the Grape Vine in this country (the United 

 States), and which I have reason to beheve 

 will ultimately prove a som-ce of annoyance 

 and disappointment to the Grape-growers of England. 



The subject of the Grape-leaf louse has been exhaus- 

 tively treated of by Mr. C. V. RUey in the columns of the 

 Rund Xew Yorlcer, and fi'om his communications I shall 

 freely quote. Mr. EUey refers to the decKne of the Grape 

 in this country, and states, " I have at last ascertained the 

 one real and principal cause of this decline, and that 

 knowing the cause, we may iu a measure obviate it, will 

 doubtless cause many a Grape-gi'ower to wonder. This 

 destiiictive agent is none other than a little insect that 

 has long been known in this country by the name of The 

 Grape-le.u- G-U.L Louse (Phylloxera -i-itifoliae, Fitch). 



" I use the specific name first given to the iasect by 

 Dr. Fitch, of New York, simply because it is the best 

 known in this eountiy, and • suffices for my present pur- 

 pose. The name itself is perhaps objectionable, and so 

 little was known of the trae character of the louse when 

 Dr. Fitch described it, that he did not even refer it to its 

 proper genus. It is doubtful, therefore, whether the 

 accord of the entomological world will be given to tliis 

 name, notwithstanding its priority, in the place of Phyl- 

 loxera vastatrix which Planchon first coiTectly gave to 

 the root-iuhabiting form, and which has been generally 

 recognised abroad. The same may be said of Westwood's 

 name Peritymbia vitisana, which was also proposed for the 

 same insect in 1868 in a communication to the Ashmolean 

 Society of Oxford, England. 



" The Chnton Vine and its near relatives have long 

 been known in this country to be subject to the attacks of 

 an insect which covers the leaves watli galls. No one, 

 however, dreamed that the roots of oiu- Vines were afflicted 

 with a similar insect until last fall, when I showed that 

 the gall louse wintered on the roots. These facts were 

 published in my last report, from wliich I quote the 

 following paragraph in order to give the recorded history 

 of the insect. It will be seen from these extracts that the 

 first mention of the galls in print was in 1856 ; but there 

 is good evidence that they were noticed, and even refeiTed 

 to, many years before, without any real knowledge of 

 their character. 



" The first reference to this insect was briefly made by 

 Dr. Fitch, of New York, in the year 1856, and he subse- 

 quently described it in a veiy insufficient manner under 

 tlie name Pemphigus vitifoUse. Ten years afterwards this 

 louse was again refeiTed to by myself in the Fniiric 

 Farmer for .Vugust 3rd, 1866 ; and during the fall of the 

 game year articles were written upon it by Dr. Shimer, 

 No. eca— Vol. XXn., Sew Seeieb. 



and by my late associate, Mr. Walsh ; the foi-mer claim- 

 ing that it was a true plant louse (Apliis fannly), and the 

 latter that it was a lark louse (Coccus family). In this 

 Dr. Sliimer was evidently right and Mr. Walsh wrong. 

 In January, 1867, Dr. Shimer proposed for this insect a 

 new family, Dactylcesperidse, which in my opinion cannot 

 stand. 



" Dm-ing all this time a serious disease of the roots oi 

 the Grape Vine began to attract attention in the south of 

 France, and it finally caused such alarm that the Minister 

 of Agriculture and Commerce in France offered a prize of 

 20,000 fi-ancs for the chscovei-y of an efficacious and prac- 

 tical remedy. In France the ihsease is known as Pour- 

 reilie, or rotting. It is in the form of little cancerous 

 spots, which cut off the supply of nourishment, and cause 

 the roots to rot; and these spots were ascertamed by 

 IMM. Planchon and Lichtenstein, of MontpeDier, to be 

 caused by a louse (Phylloxera vastatrix, Fhoii-hon) which, 

 bears a close resemblance to our gall louse. Tliis is not all, 

 for a leaf-gall, absolutely identical with om-s, also occm-s 

 there, and the identity of the gaU-iuliabiting with the root- 

 inliabiting insect was demonstrated by ' I. 0. W.' in the 

 Gardeiu-rs Chronicle (of England) for January 30th, 1869 ; 

 and M. J. Lichtenstein even contended that the Em-opean 

 species was identical with oiu-s, and unported fi-om this 

 country, in which opinion he was supported by A. Combe. 



" In the latitude of St. Louis, Missomi, the first galls 

 are noticed about the middle of May, and by the middle 

 of June they begin to be quite common. The galls vary 

 somewhat in appearance according to the Viae upon 

 which they occm-. The few individuals which start the 

 race early" in the year station themselves upon the upper 

 sides of the leaves, and by constant suction and uiitation 

 soon cause the leaf to swell in-egularly on the opposite 

 side, while the upper part of the leaf gradually becomes 

 fuzzy and close, so that the louse at last suiks from view, 

 and is snugly settled in her gall. Her bulk increases 

 diu-ing pregnancy. Eventually she gi'ows to be plump 

 and swollen, acquii-es a deep yellow or orange tmt, and 

 crowds the space withm the gall with her small yellow 

 egi^s, numbering fi-om fifty to four or five himdred, accord- 

 ing to the size of the gaU. The young hce are pale yeUow. 

 As soon as they are hatched they escape from the gall 

 through the orifice in the upper surface of the leaf, which 

 was never entirely closed, and taking up then- abode on 

 the young and tender leaves, in then' tui-n form galls. 

 The mother louse, after completing her deposit, dies, and 

 the gaU which she occupied ib-ies up. There are several 

 generations during the year, and this process goes on as 

 long as the Vmes put forth fi-esh leaves. As the gaUs 

 multiply, and the growth of the Vme becomes 1; ss vigorous, 

 the young lice sometkues so completely cover the upper 

 surface of the newly-expanded leaves as not to leave room 

 for them aU to fo'i-m galls. In this event the leaf soon 

 perishes, and the hce perish with it. Those leaves winch 

 have been badly attacked tiu-n brown or black, and 

 sooner or later faU to the gi-oimd, so that the Vme may 

 be entirely denuded. 



" By August the insects become so prodigiously multi- 

 No. l;20.— Vol XLVTI. Old Series. 



