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gallons of wine to the acre. In the present year, in spite of the Phylloxera, the product 
of Hérault will reach a probable total of 350,000,000 gallons. As usual, the best brands 
have been among the first victims of the disease. In Ardéche, situated along the right 
bank of the Rhone, there are about 30,000 acres of vines. Up to the present the dis- 
ease has destroyed or badly damaged from 25,000 to 30,000 acres. 
In the department of the Var there are about 200,000 acres of vines, producing about 
100 gallons to the acre. The principal brands are Gaude and Lamalgue, Bandole, 
Bansset, Castellet, St. Cyr, and la Cadiére, all deep red, solid wines... The damage 
done in this department will not exceed one-third of the vines. There are in the 
Gironde about 325,000 acres of land devoted to the vine. The average product is about 
200 gallons to the acre. Two years ago the quantity of land attacked by the Phyllox- 
era was estimated at 50 acres; but the disease now extends over ten kilometers and is 
rapidly spreading. Jt would be wonderful if it did not continue to spread, when 
during the past summer wagon-loads of diseased vines were carried from the country 
around Floirac, across the river, to be burned on the Médoe side—an insane proceeding 
and a sure means of spreading the disease. We shall probably have one or two more 
crops of the renowned Chatean Lafitte, Chateau Margaux, before they disappear. 
The vineyard of the famons “ Hermitage” occupies the side and summit of a hill on 
the left bank of the Rhone, a short distance north of the town of Tain, in the depart- 
ment of Dréme, and contains about 375 acres. It is worth from two to six thousand 
dollars per acre. The product of the Hermitage is 212 to 264 gallons per acre. The 
universal testimony is, that no soil and no species of wine can claim exemption from the 
Phylloxera. It first followed the course of the Rhone, south through a soil which is 
nothing more than a pine detritus. It next attacked the marshy deposits or paludian 
soi] north of Avignon, and since then every variety of ground, whether light or heavy 
loam, calcareous, argilaceous, or sandy svil, has proved a matter of perfect indifferenee 
to the Phylloxera, which makes itself at home everywhere. In connection with its 
appearauce at Roquemaure, two phenomena have been noticed, which preceded, and 
it is supposed may have had much to do with, itsrapid development. The tirst is the ex- 
traordinary length of a period of drought in a country accustomed to mild visitations 
of that nature; and the second is the unusual severity of the winter of 1867~68. 
The drought lasted eighteen months, and the cold froze everything that would freeze, 
splitting the vines and opening the ground in long, deep fissures. The vines thus split 
open were found in almost every instance to be tilled with Phylloxera, and the theory 
is, that the insects left those insecure dwellings in search of better, using the fissures 
in the ground as sheltered roads through which to travel. This is all very plausible, 
aud even true, but it is now known that at a certain period of its short life this micro- 
scopic animalcule becomes a winged creature. It is extraordinarily prolific. A single 
female will become, in the third generation, the happy grandmother of eight millions 
of her own living images. It has not yet been settled whether this insect is male and 
female or exclusively female. The winged individuals are all females, and so far as 
observed, those that do not become winged are also females, and much more prolific 
than the former. The hope was indulged by some that the insect, whether the cause 
or consequence of the disease, was generated by the climatic conditions spoken of and 
would disappear of itself in time, if the unfavorable conditions ceased. But here again 
science is at fault. The word ‘‘ unfavorable” here means favorable to the insect, and 
it would appear that all kinds of weather are equally favorable to it. Intense cold and 
intense heat find and leave it in the enjoyment of robust health and perfect content- 
ment. Never was there a living creature so charmingly resigned to all the accidents of 
checkered existence. It cannot be drowned, for after having been kept in water for 
two weeks, it emerges from its bath a fresh and frisky creature ready for the next 
vicissitude. Professor Planchon asserts that the Phyllocera is a ‘ Yankee invention,” 
which others deny. The professor quotes C. V. Riley, of Missouri, Asa Fitch, of New 
York, and Mr. Flagg, of Cincinnati, who say that the American Phylluxera is identical 
with that now ravaging France. It was introduced with certain American grape- 
vines, says the professor, sent to France by the State Department at Washington. 
The pamphlets upon the subject of the Phyllorera abound, but none have discovered a 
remedy. Sulphur has failed in some places, and been pronounced effectual in others. 
Quicklime shows no better record. A distinguished member of the French academy 
said that the disease was simply due to bad cultivation and negligence, and recom- 
mended to pull up the sick vines by the roots and burn them, and it was even proposed 
to make the thing compulsory upon the cultivator. Inoculation with turpentine, 
earmine, sulphate of copper, sulphide of potassium, &c., has been tried. Lime in 
various shapes, pyrites, soot, ashes, a variety of composts, coal-tar, carbolic acid, hot 
water, petroleum, naphthaline, sulphuric acid, mustard-plasters, arsenic, and a hun- 
dred other remedies have: been tried, and all have failed to have any effect upon the 
indurated heart of this horrid little bug. It may be possible that this disease will not 
cross the Cévennes from the east, but it is just as possible that it may extend west from 
Gironde and destroy the vines of the intervening country within the next two or three 
years. 
