FSYCECE, 



TREATMENT PROCESSES AGAINST I'lIVLLOXERA VITIFOLIAE. 



BV WII.MAM STEBBIXS BAKXARD, WASHINGTON', n. C. 



The control or destruction ot this noto-, 

 rious pest is one of the most prominent 

 scientific problems of our day. It h;is 

 baffled many experimenters even under 

 tile stimidus of a standing prize of 300. 

 000 francs ottered by the French goy- 

 ernnient. Tlie Piivllc«era commission 

 has not yet found a device vvortliy of the 

 award. In its reports (i) bisidphide 

 of carbon, (3) sulphocyanide of potas- 

 sium and (3) submersion by water, 

 are recommended as the best remedies 

 it has found. The control of the phyl- 

 loxera is becoming a serious question 

 with the Viticultural association of 

 California and the pest occurs more or 

 less through the eastern and middle 

 parts of our coimtrw On these ac- 

 counts every new treatment against it is 

 received with interest here and abroad. 



A treatment ilevisetl against the phyl- 

 loxera by the writer was reported upon 

 last year [14 Dec. 18S3] before the 

 Biological societ\- of Washington and 

 a pul)lished notice of the discussion on 

 remedies for the phylloxera at that 

 meeting appeared in Psyche for Jan.- 

 Feb. 18S4, y. 4. p. 133-134, in which 

 kerosene, applied by the nether-inser- 

 tion process, was recommended as su- 

 perior to naphthalin. 



Those remarks weie in response to 

 communications by Prof. C. V. Riley 

 and Prof. T. Taylor setting forth the 



value of naphthalin as a remed\' fir the 

 phylloxera. A partial description was 

 there given of a nether inserter [without 

 its handles and accessories] which I 

 had previously constructed for inserting 

 kerosene, but which ^yas equally adapt- 

 ed for apph'ing naphthalin. (Emitting 

 some important details and applications 

 of this instrument, it may be added that 

 in practice the device has operated with 

 perfect satisfaction, as used by me in 

 treating infested vines near Washington. 



By the process of nether insertion 

 and upward or volatile difliision of that 

 most infallible of all insecticides, petro- 

 leum. b\' its distillati(jn and upwaiil 

 capillary dispersion in the ground, we 

 have a treatment not onh' against the 

 active insect but likewise against its 

 summer eggs, which are also on the 

 roots. The insecticides used against 

 the active insect have not killed the eggs 

 in sufficient number, and the survivors 

 have hatched to restock tlie plants : 

 hence to destroy both by one and the 

 same application makes the treatment 

 simple and more complete. 



But the phylloxera also presents it- 

 self in a third phase for treatment, viz., 

 in its winter eggs, which are ditt'erent 

 from the summer eggs and are deposi- 

 ted above ground. This brings me to 

 another method of diffusing petroleum 

 which I devised and reduced to practice 



