50 



SIXTH ANNUAL BEPORT 



cultivated species, must render it difficult to successfully graft them 

 upon it. I mention these things because M. LeHardy de Beaulieu, of 

 Augusta, Georgia, supported in his views by Mr. Berkmans of the 

 same place, has lately published a pamphlet highly extolling the 

 Scuppernong as the vine of all others to redeem the blighted French 

 vineyards. It is well to consider possible drawbacks, and often saves 

 sore disappointment. 



Other preventive Measures. — In planting a new vineyard the 

 greatest care should be taken not to introduce the_^ Phylloxera on the 

 young plants, and a bath of weak lye or strong soap-suds before plant- 

 ing will, perhaps, prove the best safeguard. Remembering that the 

 lice are spreading over the ground from July till fall, and principally 

 in the months of August and September, a thorough sprinkling of the 

 surface with lime, ashes, sulphur, salt or other substance destructive 

 to insect life, will no doubt have a beneficial effect in reducing their 

 numbers and preventing their spread. 



The insect has been found to thrive less and to be, therefore, less 

 injurious in a sandy soil ; while a mixture of soot with the soil has had 

 a beneficial effect in destroying the pest. I have therefore recom- 

 mended for the more susceptible varieties, that they be planted in 

 trenches first prepared with a mixture of sand and soot. An addition 

 of lime will also prove beneficial. There is every reason to believe 

 that vines are rendered less susceptible to the disease by a system of 

 pruning and training that will produce long canes and give them as 

 nearly as possible their natural growth. At Mr. Thos. Meehan's, Gar- 

 mantown, Pa., I could find no lice on Clinton or Concord grown in 

 sward against a wall and unpruned; while on the shorter, cultivated 

 Clintons in the vineyard, the lice were found without difficulty. 



Natural Enemies. — There are a number of different predaceous 

 insects which serve to keep the leaf-lice in check; but as the injury is 

 mostly done under-ground it will suffice to enumerate the principal of 

 these in this connection. The most efficient is a black species of 

 Fringe-wing or Thrips with white wings {Thrips phylloxene of my 

 [t^'s- i'l MS.). The egg, which is thrice as large 



- as that of the louse, ellipsoidal and 

 /// '/w/'///^J^ ^=^ _ with a faceted surface, is deposited 

 within the gall 'among its legitimate 

 inhabitants ; and the young Thrips, 

 which differ from their parents not 

 only in lacking wings but in being of 

 a blood-red color, with only the ex- 

 tremities and the members black, play 

 havoc with the lice. They are active, supple creatures, and turn up 



TiiRirs. 



