29 



siderable portion of the daily food of the inhabitants ; 

 to the well it is one of the most wholesome and nour- 

 ishing of fruits, and to the sick and feeble the most 

 innocent and grateful. As a staple commodity it is an 

 important source of national wealth and happiness, 

 affording employment and support to a great population 

 engaged in its cultivation, and in the manufacture and 

 exportation of its valuable products. The insects, which 

 prey upon this noble plant, have always been viewed 

 with great solicitude, and, at times, the most vigorous 

 individual and united efforts have been made for their 

 destruction. In our own country, where the foreign 

 vine is now successfully cultivated, and the native 

 sorts have already been brought to yield a profitable 

 vintage, some progress has been made in devising and 

 putting into execution the means of limiting the ravages 

 of insects. The more perfect our knowledge of these 

 insects, and the more general and united our pursuit 

 of them, the greater will be the success that will crown 

 our efforts. 



It is said,* that some persons have entirely aban- 

 doned their vines in consequence of the depredations 

 of a small insect, which, for many years, was supposed 

 to be the vine-fretter of Europe. So far from being 

 identical, it does not belong even to the same genus, 

 and its economy is widely different from that of the 

 vine-fretter, puceron, or Jlphis. It is described, in the 

 " Encyclopaedia Americana," f by the name of Tetti- 

 gonia Vitis. In its perfect state it is nearly one tenth 

 of an inch long, is furnished w4th four wings, the under 



* Fessenden's New American Gardener. 6th ed. p. 299. 

 t Vol. VIII. page 43. Article Locust. 



