228 



soil was tried, and proved, unexpectedly, successful. Dynamite cart- 

 ridges exploded in boles four to six feet deep loosened the soil so that 

 it would absorb twenty large pails of water where previously half of one 

 would stand along time. Numerous substances have acquired' some 

 reputation in France, of which sulpho-carbonate of potassium dissolved 

 in water is, according to Dumas, the most successful. Of the dry salt, 

 forty to fifty grams are required for a large vine, the solution to be 

 X)onred around the stalk. 



Of all the weapons yet used, water is the only one completely to be 

 relied on. It is not likely the Phylloxera will become entirely extinct, 

 but it is probable we shall find means to render it comparatively harm- 

 less, and by high cultivation give our vines sufficient vigor to with- 

 stand its attacks. In sandy soil, with heavy manuring, the Phylloxera 

 is even now not to be dreaded. 



With regard to fruit-trees, decisive experiments have been made at 

 Klosterneuburg that prove they are not subject to its attacks. 



Conformable to analogy with similar phenomena, we may hope that 

 possibly the scourge may vanish some time as suddenly as it has ar- 

 rived. As human intelligence has triumphed over the Oidium, the po- 

 tato-disease, the silk-worm malady, &c., it is probable that science will 

 one day conquer the Phylloxera. 



Phylloxera yastatrix in France. — Dr. Henry Erhi, United 

 States consul at Basle, Switzerland, sends the following note to the 

 Assistant Secretary of State, under date May 5, 1875 : 



Sir : Upon the high authority of Professor Dumas, of the French Academy, it must be con- 

 ceded that an effective remedy has teen discovered against the grape-root louse, ( Phylloxera.'} 

 It is the salt : potassic sulpho-carbonate, (K. S. C. S.'^) which in a dry form is strown upo 

 the soil, whence a rain-fall carries it down in solution, bringing it thus in contact with dis- 

 eased grape-roots. Experiments by Messrs. Milne-Edwards, Duchartre, Blanchard, Pas- 

 teur, Thenard, and Boulay have been crowned with complete success. 



Insect injuries. — Our statistical correspondence shows a backward 

 camijaign on the part of the farmers' insect-enemies generally. The 

 Colorado beetle, though making more formidable demonstrations in the 

 East, has excited comparatively little remark in the West. The chinch- 

 bug has probably been restrained by the cold backward season. The 

 migratory grasshopper of the West is doing much damage in Kansas 

 and Missouri, but has not yet shown a tendency to serious iujuries in the 

 States farther north. The cut-worms have attacked cotton and to- 

 bacco. The following is an epitome of the injuries done in diflerent 

 parts of the country by various species of insects : 



Colorado ijotato-leetle, {Doryphora decem-Uneata.) — This insect is ex- 

 tending its ravages through the Middle States and the more northeru 

 of the Atlantic coast States, while in the Mississippi basin the complaints 

 are less numerous and the injuries less formidable. In Xew York, Dela- 

 ware reports the appearance of the beetles ; in Chatauqua they were 

 swarming ; in Allegany they appeared before the potatoes were 

 planted. They were numerous in Gloucester, Camden, and Burlington^ 

 New Jersey; in Northumberland, Chester, Franklin, and Lancaster,. 

 Pennsylvania; in Caroline, Washiugtou, Wicomico, Harford, Freder- 

 ick, and Cecil, Maryland ; Culpeper and King George, Virginia. The 

 use of Paris green and other poisons was effective in some localities, but 

 others were disposed to rely upon the more laborious method of hand- 

 picking. Our correspondent in Frederick, Maryland* adopted a very 

 ingenious and successful expedient. He reported that a little corn was 

 thinly sown among his potatoes and the chickens turned into the patch. 



