570 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



the Phylloxera thus is still rapidly on the increase in Europe, accord- 

 ing to late accounts one-third of all the vineyards of France were 

 affected, and the disease is also spreading in Italy, Spain, Germany, 

 Austria, Hungary, Algeria, Syria and South-Africa. The most 

 effectual method of combating this enemy in France has been found 

 in grafting the ordinary grape-vine on stocks of several American 

 species of Vitis. In 1891 the price per 1,000 vine-plants grafted on 

 the best American stock was about 10 in France. It may be worthy 

 of trial, how far the grape-vine can be grafted on such other species, 

 not American, as may not be attacked by the Phylloxera. Professor 

 Monnier, of Geneva, has introduced the very expansive sulphurous 

 anhydrous acid gas against the Phylloxera. The cultivation of insec- 

 ticidal herbs, to check the ingress of Phylloxera, should be more 

 extensively tried, as such plants might ward off the insect at all 

 events in its wingless state. Dr. Herman Behr suggests for the mitiga- 

 tion of this plague the ignition of wood near vineyards, when the insect 

 is on its wings, as all such insects seek fires, and succumb in them 

 largely, the attraction to the fiery light being greatest when the sky 

 is overcast, or when the nights are without moonlight. Mr. Leacock, 

 in Madeira, applies a coating of a sticky solution of resin in oil of 

 turpentine advantageously to the roots of Vines affected by Phyl- 

 loxera. Professor Riley recommends the application of kerosene- 

 emulsion to the roots, diluted with two or three times the quantity, of 

 water. Mr. Koebele also found from Californian experiments that 

 resin-emulsion will largely subdue the Phylloxera on the roots, though 

 it will not absolutely destroy all the insects in the ground. Dr. Clemm 

 extols an application of easily decomposed carbonates or sulphides to 

 the soil with subsequent addition of any diluted acid, whereby the 

 suffocating carbonic acid gas or the sulphuret of hydrogen is formed 

 and liberated, the resulting salts in their turn to reinvigorate and 

 nourish the suffering plant [Dr. G. Krause]. Successive broods of 

 Phylloxera maintained their vitality on remnants of Vine-roots for 

 six years and more. Inundation to the depth of a few inches for 

 about a month, where that is practicable, completely suffocates the 

 ; Phylloxera, but renders the vine for a while much less productive. 

 In sandy soil this dreadful insect is retarded in its development, 

 action and progress. Bisulphide of carbon has proved an efficient 

 remedy; this expansive fluid is introduced into the soil by a peculiar 

 injector or through porous substances (wood, earth), saturated with 

 the bisulphide, the cost of this operation being, in France, 3 10s.-4 

 per acre annually [Planchon, David, Marion, Robart] ; a square 

 yard of land requires about ounce at least once a year. See also 

 translations by K. Staiger and A. K. Findlay. Dressing with sulpho- 

 carbonate of potassium is still more efficacious and less dangerous, 

 but involves an annual expenditure of about 8 per acre [W. T. 

 Dyer]. Sand might be dug in at the roots of vines, which may be 

 in imminent danger of becoming a prey of Phylloxera. It is reported 

 from California that there cereals seem also attacked by Phylloxera. 

 Little's soluble Phenyle is among the remedies recommended by the 



