224 



swered,) is this insect of native or foreign origin ? In some i)laces, as 

 Bordeaux, tiiey believe in its introduction on American vines, wliich 

 nevertheless withstand its attacks much better than their own. Then 

 there is the fact that, except in a few instances in France, it is only- 

 found on the roots in Europe, which renders it possible we have two 

 species of insects to deal with. A French scientist, Loarer, thinks the 

 Phylloxera was introduced from the East Indies * by eggs brought to 

 Marseilles in bales of merchandise. But after all there is nothing to 

 hinder the presumption that the insect has always accompanied the 

 vine,t though formerly unnoticed, and that favorable conditions of 

 weather, «&;c., have. enabled it to increase at the present time with such 

 alarming rapidity. 



The number of remedies which have been proposed and tried is 

 enormous. The Herault commission alone experimented with 124 in the 

 domain of Las Sorres from January to June, 1873, including the follow- 

 ing substances : Verdigris, phenic acid, sulphuric acid, garlic, aloes, 

 alum, ammonia, nitrate of silver, potters' clay, arsenious acid, arsenic 

 sulphide, asafetida, gypsum, calomel, camphor, carbonate of lime, caus- 

 tic lime, chloride of lime, carbonate of potash, wood-ashes, charcoal in 

 powder, bone-meal, chlorate of potassa, corrosive sublimate, chrome, 

 sealing-wax, decoction of poppies, leather-scraps, blue vitriol and other 

 salts of copper, sea-water, compost, turpentine, sulphate of iron, horse- 

 dung, wood-tar, Peruvian guano, bran, sulphur, oil of juniper, olive-oil, 

 naphtha, petroleum, potassic permanganate, mercuric sulphate, saltpe- 

 ter, bone-charcoal, nux- vomica, walnut-leaves, benzine, ground apatite, 

 goat-hair, sulphate of potash, pine sawdust, poudrette, Peruvian bark, 

 sea-sand, white and black soap, slate-meal, flowers of sulphur, and sul- 

 phur in various forms and combinations, soot, tobacco, oak-bark, rape- 

 seed cake, pignuts, sesame, castor-oil, urine, vinegar, creosote, carbolic 

 acid, suds, &c. Some of these are used in mixtures the composition 

 of which is unknown. To these remedies must be added various modes 

 of treatment, such as boring the trunk of the vine and impregnating 

 the sap, the planting of certain herbs near the stock, as hoarhound, 

 garden cress, chamomile, pyrethrum, &c.; also the introduction of 

 natural enemies of the 'PJiylfoxera, as lady-bugs, pselaphus, chrysopa, 

 ants, and spiders. I^one of these have proved completely successful 

 remedies. Many of them certainly destroy the insects, but the difficulty 

 lies in obtaining the necessary contact, which it is often impossible ta 

 accomplish. 



In 1SG9, Louis Fau^on proposed to flood the vineyards, and the rem- 

 edy proved successful. It can, however, only be applied on level 

 grounds, where the necessary supply of water can be obtained. Ee- 

 cently it has been said only to prove eff'ectual on sandy soil with clay 

 subsoil, a condition not always to be obtained. Perhaps in some cases 

 the water destroys the insect, but not its eggs. 



* Drouynde I'Huys, in Lis address before tlie grape-growers' congress at Montpelier, 26 Oct. 

 3874, appeared to agree with this opinion. In the East Indies proper there are»however, no 

 grape-vines, these being grown only in Afghanistan and Nepaul. 



+ Experienced gardeners in Klosterneubnrg have stated that the vineyards in which the 

 Phylloxera first appeared were destroyed about a hundred years ago by some cause which 

 , was never satisfactorily explained. And it is said that in Hungary, near Szegedin and There- 

 sienopel, between sixty and one hundred years ago, an insect appeared on the roots of the 

 vine as destructive as the PhijUoxera now is. It was finally extirpated by the use of ashes 

 and lime. In the neighborhood of Gorz, fifty to sixty years ago, a vine-root louse appeared 

 that was checked by a wet season ; and it is to be observed that a special prayer in the 

 Talmud includes the vine-louse. But these allusions may refer to something different from 

 the Phylloxera. 



