WINK-MAKINC; IN CALIFORNIA. 83 



The Meaning of " Resistant " First of all it is necessary 

 to dispel the illusion entertained by some, that resistant vines 

 are such as are not attacked by the phylloxera. So far as our 

 knowledge extends at this time, the insect will feed on any 

 and all of the members of the true vine tribe (vifis proper) 

 when occasion offers; but it is evident that some are better 

 adapted to the taste or nature of the phylloxera than others, 

 and are, therefore, more numerously infested when planted in 

 the same ground with others; just as cattle will pasture on 

 the sweet grasses in preference to the sour ones. The Euro- 

 pean vine (vinifera) appears, on the whole, to be the one 

 most uniformly adapted to the insects' taste in all its varieties, 

 and is always attacked in preference. It evidently offers the 

 best conditions for the life and multiplication of the pest 



It is not, then, a proof of non-resistance when a vine is 

 found to be more or less infested; for, so far as we know, 

 there are no true vines of which the phylloxera will not at- 

 tack the roots when presented to them. 



The true criterion is that the resistant vine and its roots will 

 not only outlive the attacks, but flourish and bear remunera- 

 tivecrops under the same conditions under which the more 

 sensitive European vines will succumb. 



But every -vine, like every other plant, is subject to certain 

 conditions of soil, climate, and atmosphere for its welfare. 

 Any vine, or any other plant, may be planted where from un- 

 favorable conditions it will not flourish, and where a slight 

 addition to the adverse influences may cause it to either die 

 or maintain only a feeble existence, useless to the cultivator 

 for profit. The resistant vines are no exception to this gen- 

 eral rule, 



They have been planted, and expected to yield satisfactory 

 results, where vines have been fruited for twenty or thirty 

 years without the use of a particle of manure, and where, as a 



