OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 83 



lire sapped at the fouiulation and fail to o^row. j\Iy only remedy has been to destroy 

 the roots and re-root the tops, carctuU.v settinir thtnn in anotlier place, or to use the tops 

 ;is o-rafts ; but I do not like so severe a remedy. 



Can yon, Messrs. p]ditors. or S., or some " careful "' corresi)ondenr, g-lve me a 

 milder one, equally effective":' 



N. N. C, a correspondent of the same journal {ll/Ul, Aug. 2S, 1S7;:5,) from Sewanee, 

 Tenn., speaks of hisDelawares being bad lyaflfected, and refers to both the gall- and the 

 root-lice. 



Around Philadelphia, as Mr. Methan assures me, Catawba, Delaware, lona, Isra- 

 alla, and most varieties except Clinton and Concord, have more or less failed. 



Mr. H. W. Ravenel, of Aiken, 8. C, has written me a long letter describing how 

 most of the bunch grapes have there failed, although they succeeded admirably for 

 awhile. L. Froelich testifies (Kep. Dep. Agr. 1871, p. 149,) that, in North Caro- 

 lina, bunch grapes, after the tirst few years, show tendencies to disease. Mr. Berkmans 

 gives a similar account for Georgia. 



Mr. H. O. Fairchild, of llammondsport, N. Y., writes that he linds Phylloxera on 

 his lona, Catawba and Isabella vines (other varieties not having been examined) which 

 latel}'^ appear to be suffering. 



On Kelley Island, Prof. Planchon found, on a large scale, the contlrmation of what 

 I have found elsewhere. The Delaware is in bad condition, while the Catawba, though 

 sufficiently healthy here and there, is generally sufleriug; and Mr. Kelley states that 

 it is failing more and more. In years past Mr. Kelley was in the habit of pruning 

 the roots of his vines, by cutting off all the superficial roots, and he then noticed the 

 nodosities. The habit which he had of piling these knotted rootlets in large heaps on 

 the top of the ground, doubth-ss had the effect to kill many of the lice : at all events, 

 since he h;is abandoned the practice the vines have been getting worse. 



(22) The following recorded experience, taken during the past few months from 

 but one of our agricultural journals— Co^ma/^'s Rural ]Vu7-ld—and touching on the suc- 

 cessful growth of native varieties which suffer more or less from Phylloxera, and gene- 

 rally fail, speaks volumes in connection with what we know of the influence of sand 

 •oil the insect, and of other facts I have recorded. 



j\[r. T. Metzler, of Rhineland, Mo., in a recent number writes : 



I will admit that the Catawba is not such a profitable producer as many other 

 kinds. This grape needs different cnlture, location and soil from othergrapes. I raise 

 it on a place on the Missouri river where the sail is sandy and level. It is a place that 

 heretofore would have been neglected by a great many vineyardists, but this is the 

 place for the lovely Catawba. 



Mr. E. Baxter, of Nauvoo, Ills., a well-known and experienced grape-grower, 

 after considering the question whether or not grape-culture and wine-making is a fail- 

 ure in this country, says {iOld, Aug. 30, 1873) : 



I have now in my mind an experiment which has been carried on for the last six 

 years by an intimate tViend, with intelligimce to direct and means to establish, and I 

 "will refer to him and his vineyards to demonstrate the truths I wish to impress on my 

 readers. The tirst thing that attracts the attention of the stranger is the admirable 

 selection of soil and situation of these vineyards, known as the vVhite Elk vineyards, 

 and situated some three miles north of Keokuk, on the blutfs which skirt the western 

 shore of the Mississippi as far as Montrose, and facing the river, which they almost 

 reach by a steep descent. The scenery of the country is very picturesque and presents 

 a surface strongly rolling and naturally drained; this is no prairie with a level surface 

 and a strong, black, rich vegetable humus, causing a rank vegetation. On the contrary, 

 the soil is of a light colored clay loam, vjith an admixture of sand, from the sandy marls 

 ■oj- the loess, wdiicli forms that dry calcareous soil which a long experience has proven to 

 be well adapted to the growth of grapes, as it also contains a sutiicient quantity of the 

 oxyds of iron, which ought never to be absent from those wines which have the pre- 



