RED SPIDER. 55 



milk and water: repeat this painting of the pipes once 

 a-week, and it will arrest the progress of this most 

 troublesome of insects. Some recommend constant 

 syringing as a preventive, but I have often observed 

 that this cure was as bad as the disease, as far as 

 the appearance of the grapes was concerned. I am 

 therefore averse to syringing vines with water while 

 the grapes are on them, unless it can be had free 

 from lime, chalk, or other matter in suspension, which 

 forms a crust of lime or chalk, as the case may be, 

 on the berries, and disfigures them very much. Cir- 

 cumstances, however, will arise where it is difficult, 

 if not impossible, to keep red spider in check by 

 any other available means ; for during hot weather in 

 summer the pipes cannot be kept so hot as to im- 

 pregnate the atmosphere of the house by the radia- 

 tion of sulphur from their surface, and the syringe 

 has to be called into action, in which case make a sand 

 filter, and pass rain water through it, in order to clear 

 it of any particles of soot or white-lead off the houses it 

 may contain. Make the water the same temperature as 

 the atmosphere of the house, and syringe the vines care- 

 fully all over when the house is shut in the afternoon. If 

 this is done every third day, red spider will make little 

 progress. In the case of vines in the first and second 

 years of their growth, the syringe may be used with 

 perfect safety, as there is no fruit to injure. Steaming, 

 and an atmosphere highly charged with moisture, have 

 also been recommended ; but, independently of the bad 

 effects of such a climate on the vine itself, I do not 

 believe moisture checks the progress of red spider, for 

 I have seen it thrive perfectly on plants standing all 



