able to keep tliem under control by tlie application of the remedies 

 herein recommended. As the reader will learn in the following pages, 

 the principal insect and fungous enemies of the grape nvaj be controlled 

 with material reduction of cost by timely and thorough applications of 

 a combined insecticide and fungicide used in the form of a liquid spray. 

 As in the control of most other insect pests, cultural methods are of 

 very great importance. Vines kept in a vigorous, healthy condition 

 by cultivations and fertilization are much better able to withstand 

 insect attack than those grown under conditions of neglect. 



THE GRAPE ROOT-WORM. 



The grape root-worm (Fidia iniicida Walsh), as the name indicates 

 infests the roots of the grape, devouring more or less completely the 

 smaller roots and rootlets and eating pits or burrows into the outer 

 portion of the larger roots. It is the larva of a small, hairy, chest- 

 nut-brown beetle which makes its appearance in vinej^ards at about 

 the close of the blooming period of such varieties of grapes as Con- 

 cord, Niagara, Catawba, and Delaware. The beetles feed freely on the 

 upper surface of the leaf, eating a series of patches or holes through 

 to the lower surface, thus producing characteristic chain-like feed- 

 ing marks, as shown in figure 1 at h, by which their presence in 

 vineyards may be readily detected. The injurj^ to the foliage, how- 

 ever, is quite unimportant compared to the work of the larvae on 

 the roots. Wlien the larvae are abundant the vines may be killed 

 in the course of a season or two, but 'usually the plants will live 

 longer, though maldng but a feeble growth and failing to produce 

 profitable crops. The death of vines or the gradual failure of a vine- 

 yard should call for an examination of the foliage for the feeding- 

 marks of the beetles and of the roots for the work of the larvae on 

 these parts. 



Distribution and Destructiveness. 



The grape root-worm, or grapevine Fidia, is without doubt a 

 native species, feeding originally on wild grapes, as it does at the 

 present time. In addition to cultivated varieties of grapes it has 

 also been recorded as feeding on the Virginia creeper (AmpelojJsis 

 quinquefolia) and the American red-bud (Cercis canadensis) . In the 

 literature of the species it is said to occur in Iowa, IMissouri, Arkansas, 

 Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, and New Jersey. In 1892 

 Doctor Horn gave the distribution of the insect as from the "Middle 

 States to Dakota, Florida, and Texas." According to the records of 

 the Bureau of Entomology the insect occurs in New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania,, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, 

 Mississippi, Texas, and California. The species is therefore widely 

 distributed in the Mississippi Valley and in the Eastern States, and 

 occurs also in California. 



This insect first came into notice as a pest of cultivated grapes in 

 1866, in Kentucky, by reason of injuiy to the foliage caused by the 

 adults or beetles. This attack was the subject of a short note by 

 jMr. B. D. Walsh in the Practical Entomologist.'* The following 



a Practical Entomologist, Vol. 1, p. 99 (1866). 

 284 , ' . 



