119 



and also from mildew and the rot. But the practice in large 

 vineyards would require an almost endless amount of labor, and 

 is not likely to be generally adopted. 



INSECTS. 



There are but few insects that give us much trouble. That 

 scourge of the French vineyardist, the phylloxera ( P. vastatrix), 

 has not yet favored us with a call. It may be advisable for 

 congress to pass an act suspending its immigration for twenty 

 years. 



Prof. Riley says, " The insect presents itself under several 

 different forms, all of which belong to two types. One of these 

 is the Leaf -gall type (gallicola, R.), and the other is found upon 

 the roots of the vine (radicola, R.). 



The first form of the insect produces a gall or excrescence on 

 the under side of the leaf of the size of an ordinary pea. On 

 carefully opening one of them, we shall find the mother louse 

 diligently at work surrounding herself with pale yellow eggs of 

 an elongated oval form, scarcely .01-inch long, and not quite 

 half as thick. She is about .04-inch long, generally spherical 

 in shape, of a dull orange color, and looks not unlike an imma- 

 ture seed of the common purslane. The eggs begin to hatch 

 when six or eight days old. The number of eggs in a single 

 gall averages about two hundred, and every egg brings forth a 

 fertile female. Laying and hatching continue during the sum- 

 mer, until the fifth or sixth generation. The insects and galls 

 multiply to such an extent that the leaves become completely 

 covered. The autumnal insects, gallicola, descend to the roots, 

 and there hibernate. 



41 As to the phylloxera (Radicola) that destroys the roots of 

 the vine, little need be said, as it is now admitted to be iden- 

 tical with the type already described. Galls may be produced 

 upon the leaves by the same insects that work such mischief to 

 the roots. The puncture of the roots produces enlargement, 

 that usually commences at the tip of the rootlets, resulting in 

 decay, as the supply of sap to the plant and the entire root sys- 

 tem eventually wastes away, and the vine dies. There are but 

 slight indications of the presence of the insect the first year of 

 the attack, and not until the second year are the outward mani- 



