124 FRUIT CULTURE UNDER GLASS. 



Eegarding the appearance of the insect, and the 

 rapidity with which it multiplies and devours its prey, 

 this writer's observations are correct ; but I differ to 

 some extent on what the writer propounds as to its 

 mode of attack. I refer to the article in question for 

 the entomology of this little devourer, and will now 

 detail some of my observations as to its effects, its 

 mode of attack, and circumstances which favour its 

 spread, &c. I may here state that not one of the ob- 

 servations to which I refer has been intrusted only to 

 one pair of eyes, and that all which I shall relate has 

 been corroborated by two and sometimes more observers. 

 The insect is so minute less than a cheese-mite that 

 all observations have to be microscopic. 



The first warning that some evil was present in a 

 vinery erected in the autumn of 1869, and planted in 

 1870, was, that two vines at the end of the house, 

 which grew with great and satisfactory vigour all 

 through 1870 and up to the midsummer of 1871, 

 soon after the latter date began to flag. The leaves 

 got prematurely yellow, and dropped off. Not for a 

 moment suspecting the real cause, I was much puzzled 

 at the occurrence, it being entirely new in my experi- 

 ence. But as the effect was so limited in its extent, 

 and the two vines being supernumeraries, and heavily 

 cropped, the impression wore off, and no minute in- 

 vestigation took place. In the spring of 1872, most 

 of the supernumeraries that bore heavily in 1871 were 

 removed, and the whole of the permanent vines from 

 one end of the house to the other broke with equal 

 vigour, each shoot being literally packed at the points 

 with fruit. All seemed to go right till the young 

 growths were about 3 inches long, and the stored-up 

 sap was exhausted. Then all the vines at one end of 



