326 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



seeclliugs \yith which we are acquainted, it becomes necessary, in 

 order to secure the proper amount of foliage, to leave the canes 

 longer before pinching, — say as many as nine leaves to a shoot. 



Insects and Diseases. The grape is subject to many enemies, both 

 of the animal and vegetable kingdom. Let us first look at those 

 of the animal. In the early spring, when the bud begins to swell, 

 and before the first tiny leaf unfolds, the advance guard appears 

 and throws out its picket line ; they begin operations by boring a 

 small hole into the bud and eating out the centre. When it has 

 devoured all that is palatable it goes to the next, and it is not 

 uncommon to find a vine with evei'y bud eaten. The little fellow 

 who does this is about three-sixteenths of an inch in length, and 

 is of a steel-blue color. We know of no remedy but to kill with 

 thumb and finger. The Rose-bug, or Rose-chafer, makes its 

 appearance about the time the grapes blossom, and in a few days 

 they have been known to destroy large vineyards. Our method of 

 destroying them is to go over the vines and kill the bugs with 

 thumb and finger ; they are usually thickest next to the grass 

 land, as that is a good place for them to lay their eggs. The 

 Agricultural College recommends spraying at this time with one- 

 fourth of a pound of Paris green to fifty gallons of water ; or, if 

 3^ou use the Bordeaux mixture, put the Paris green into that. 

 Then we have the grape-vine caterpillar, about one and one- half 

 inches long, but I have never heard of their appearing in numbers 

 large enough to do any great harm. During the summer, there 

 may be found on the under side of the leaf, at certain times, a 

 small brown slug ; they are hatched from the eggs of the steel- 

 blue beetle which made its appearance early in the spring. The 

 thrip, which is so troublesome when the grape is grown under glass, 

 will, in extremely dry weather, appear in large numbers upon the 

 out-door grape, and while we do not consider it a dangerous 

 enemy, yet it does not add to the strength of the vine, and we 

 welcome a good shower, as this will keep it in check. These, 

 with the addition of the grape-berry moth, of which we have as 

 yet seen but very little, comprise about all the insects that have 

 ])een troublesome in my vineyard, unless we mention the Phyl- 

 loxera, which is at work on the roots of nearly all grape vines ; 

 but our native grape, as a rule, is such a strong grower that these 

 insects do but little damage if the vine is kept in a good healthy 

 growth ; this in fact has much to do in assisting it to witlistand 

 the attacks of the different fungi which of late years have been 



