OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 85 



the existence of the Grape Phylloxera on fruit trees. A further illustration of how lit- 

 tle can be deponded on this gentleman's opinions, may be here mentioned : By request, 

 he sent to Montpellier, as I am informed by different correspondents, the roots of a sup- 

 posed cherry tree, covered, as he claimed, with Phylloxera. A single glance sufficed 

 to show those more competent to judge in such matters, that the supposed cherry 

 roots were in reality vine roots — tlie blunder being doubtless caused by the vine roots 

 extending to and intermingling with those of an adjacent cherry tree. 



(24) In answer to a writer, in the monthly report of the Department of Agricul_ 

 ture for January, 1874, who considers that the true cause of failure in the out-door cul- 

 ture of yini/e^-a in this country is due to "fungoid growth," I have replied in these 

 words (N. Y. Weekly Tribune, March 4, 1874) : 



" Had "W. S. witnessed, as I have done over and over again in this part of the 

 XJ. S,, and as Prof. Planchon has done in France, the gradual decline and tinal death 

 of varieties of Vitis vlnifera with no Oldium or Peronospoi-a on their leaves, but with 

 their roots covered with Phylloxera, or depleted and wasted by the same, he would, I 

 think, not speak so positively about the death of such vines being due to fungus growth. 

 The proper use of sulphur is acknowledged to be a sovereign antidote for the fungus 

 growths mentioned, and has so proved to be both in Europe and America; and were 

 his statement really true, we should have no other hindrance to the successful out-door 

 growth of vinifera in this country than a liberal use of that mineral. Unfortunately, 

 such has not proved to be the case ; and, however injurious these funguses may be, I 

 am perfectly convinced that Phylloxera is much more injurious, and that it kills the 

 vines mentioned, whether with or without the aid of parasitic plants." 



It were needless here to repeat the reasons which I gave in 1871 for considering 

 the Phylloxera more potent than any other one cause in destroying the European vine 

 with us. Tliey have been recently set forth in an admirable manner by Prof Plan- 

 -chon in an elaborate article on the Phylloxera in Europe and America {Revue des deux 

 Mondes, Feb. 1st and 15th, 1874), from which the following passage is so much to the 

 IJoint, and so fully expresses my own views, that I shall be doing my readers a favor in 

 giving it a liberal translation : 



" In presence of these repeated failures, the cause has very naturally been sought. 

 Explanations in such cases are nev'er w^an ting witli the so-called practical man, who, 

 as a rule, disdains scientific research, and readily contents himself with vague hypoth- 

 eses, such as bad weather, difference of climate, and incapacity in the plant to become 

 acclimated. If such causes act in exceptional cases, can they be applied to the European 

 vine taken as a whole, i. e., to its innumerable varieties that flourish in Europe, Asia 

 and Africa, under extreme climatic conditions, from Potsdam to the Canaries, and even 

 into Egypt, in the Fayoum below 30° of latitude? Does not North America possess 

 all varieties of climate, from Florida and Louisiana, where the Banana ripens, to 

 Canada, where the rivers freeze annually ; and is it not over the whole extent [of the 

 eastern half] that the European vine has niiled ? Besides, if this failure is owing to ex- 

 tremes of climate, how explain the fact that the young plants prosper well at first, and 

 gradually decline with age? Finalh', if it is a question of climate, why is California 

 studded with vast vineyai'ds of European varieties, all flourishing, and cultivated ever 

 «ince its first colonization by the Spanish ? In truth, the European vine finds in North 

 America, conditions of climate and soil which in the Old World would give it, com- 

 paratively, a very extended range. The same soils are found on both sides of the At- 

 lantic : acclimation is a misnomer, if employed to mean anything else than that a plant 

 is modified gradually, by possible selection in its descendants— modified, I say, to adapt 



