RESISTANT VINES; THEIR SELECTION, ADAPTATION, 

 AND GRAFTING. 



Natural Habitat of the Phylloxera. The phylloxera is a minute insect 

 that is found on both the leaves and roots of the grapevine. It causes, 

 ultimately, the death of all the varieties of the Vitis Vinifera, or 

 European vine, as well as that of many other species. It is essentially 

 an insect of American origin, its native habitat being that part of the 

 United States east of the Rocky Mountains, below the Canada line; it 

 has existed on the American vines in that part of the United States, so 

 far as is known, for ages. Up to a quite recent date, however, little was 

 known of this insect, beyond a few facts concerning the leaf-inhabiting 

 form (sometimes also called the gall form), which, being comparatively 

 harmless in its effects on the vine, was merely noted as a curiosity. 

 Though having lived on the American wild vines of the East for a 

 longer time than history can record, nothing was known concerning its 

 deadly effects upon the non- American species. 



Evolution of Phylloxera and Resistant Vines. It would seem, from 

 geological specimens of extinct species of American vines, that, for a 

 long time, there has been a sort of struggle going on between the 

 phylloxera and the wild vines. All weakling vines in the forests 

 perished from the bite of the insect, while those that were strong and 

 vigorous did not, but, in conformity with a general law of Nature, 

 gradually developed characteristics or qualities that enabled them to 

 withstand the attacks of the phylloxera. Of course this took a very 

 long time to come about, for such changes in the nature of species do 

 not take place in a few years; science shows that it requires ages to 

 bring about such results. Hence, it is the veriest nonsense to speak of 

 "the root form of the phylloxera having suddenly come into existence 

 since the use of insecticides on the leaves, being forced by the poisoning 

 of its natural habitat to seek shelter and food on the roots." While it 

 is perfectly true that the original insect was probably a leaf insect, just 

 as the oak phylloxera is to-day, yet it took many ages to develop or 

 evolve the root-inhabiting form from it. 



Introduction into Europe. Probably it would have been many years 

 before the complicated life-history of the phylloxera would have been 

 known, had it not been for the fact that by some unfortunate accident 

 the insect was carried beyond the Atlantic and dropped among the 

 vineyards of the Old World. This occurred some thirty-odd years ago. 

 Finding a new species of grapevine especially well adapted for its 

 growth and development, it began to multiply faster than it did on the 

 wild vines of its native forests, and soon caused the entire destruction 

 of some of the finest vineyards of the Old World. For some time the 



