lo Dec, 1908.] Arsenate of Lead Spray for Apple Root Borer. 715 



howe\er is the cellars of the Aiarques de Riscal, the object ol our visit, 

 the large establishment which provides work for most of its inhabitanits. 

 The exterior of the cellars (see photograph) does not give an) thing like 

 an idea of its importance, for most of it consists of vaulted galleries 

 covered over with earth. As at Haro one would immediately imagine 

 one self at Bordeaux in any of these long, dark vaults. Even the candle- 

 sticks which are handed to each one at the entrance are the same. The 

 stock at El Ciego amounts to 5,000 hogsheads but the Manjues de Riscal 

 owns another establishment at La Guardia the old fortified town visible 

 some ten or fifteen miles to the north-east. 



At El Ciego the varieties cultivated are Tempranillo, Graciano, 

 Cabernet Sauvignon and jNialbeck to which is added a small quantity of 

 white grapes (^Jaen and Calagrafio). The vines are planted 6 ft. 6 in. 

 A 3 ft. 3 in. and trained on wires as a.t Bordeaux, an unusual sight in 

 Spain. The photograph of some of these vines before pruning gi\-es an 

 idea of the system of training. 



The soil here contains a good deal of clay and is considerably stiffer 

 than at Haro but strange to say thse wine is if anything lighter. Don 

 Victor informs me that these wines are usually at their best at five or six 

 years old. .At El Ciego, as also in the Haro cellars generally, wines .are 

 fined rather than filtered. Filters, however, are rather largelv used 

 but always the coated bag system and not the more drastic paper pulp 

 filter so largelv used in Australia. The use of eggs for fininij; wines 

 is very general. 



Australians would do well to take a lesson from Spaniards who' ap- 

 preciate their own good wines and drink them instead of importing wines 

 from elsewhere. The few details above given will give some idea of 

 the importance of the Rioja wine industry in Spain. 



I left Cenicero by the evening train for Zaracoza and Barcelona. I 

 desire to here tender my sincere thanks to Don Victor Manso de Zuiiiga, 

 Don Arturo Marcellino and several other gentlemen to whose kindness 

 and courtesv I am indebted for the information I was enabled to gather 

 concerning viticulture in this most interesting part of Spain. 



ARSENATE OF LEAD SPRAY FOR APPLE ROOT 



BORER. 



C. French, fun., Assistant Gcveirmtoit Entomologist. 



Earlv in Xovemter Messrs. Lawford and Toogocd, well-known fruit- 

 growers of Doncaster, drew mv attention to a number of apple root borer 

 beetles, which thev had reason to belie\e were poisoned l)y the arsenate 

 of lead sprav used against the codlin moth. As the root borer has always 

 been one of the growers' most difficult prsts to deal with, 1 conducted 

 r.ome experiments to test the matter. A large twig of an apple tree was 

 sprayed with arsenate of lead, and about a dozen of the borers placed 

 upon it in an observation box. On examination twenty-four hours aftcr 

 all of the beetles were dead, the contents of their stomachs having turned 

 black. Specimens of the insects were su.bmitted to the Goxernment 

 Analyst for examination, and arsenic was detected in them all. 



As this is an important discovery as far as the fruitgrower is concerned , 

 growers will do well to use this spray when combating this pest in futu-c. 

 The sprav can be used in the same proportions as is given in the Depart- 

 ment's formula for ccdlln moth. 



