Inclement Weather, Diseases, Etc. 305 



The quantity of flower of sulphur to be employed to 

 the acre is, on an average, twenty-seven pounds for the 

 first application, and fifty-four pounds for each of the 

 other two in all, one hundred and thirty-five pounds, 

 which, at two and a quarter cents a pound, make three 

 dollars. 



To distribute the sulphur, requires twelve women's 

 working days, at twenty-two cents, or, altogether, 

 $5.64 per acre. 



Of course the cost of this operation varies according 

 to the price of sulphur and manual labor, and also de- 

 pends upon what kind of weather follows the applica- 

 tion a rain-storm compelling the work to be begun 

 anew. Lastly, that cost will depend upon the mode of 

 pruning the vines the creeping vines of Languedoc 

 requiring more time, and calling for more sulphur than 

 those of Medoc. 



HURTFUL INSECTS. The Fine-Beetle [Fig. 128]. 

 This little beetle, known to vine-growers under the 

 name of "devil," "scribbler," etc., has its elytra of a 

 brownish-red, and the remainder of its body black ; it 

 is to be found on vines from the 

 month of July. This insect, in 

 gnawing the leaves, makes on them 

 those linear impressions that have 

 been compared to written charac- 

 ters [Fig. 127]. When it is present 

 in large numbers, it also attacks 

 the grapes, and dries them up. It 

 is when in the larval stage that [FiG. 128.] 



this beetle is especially injurious. Fine-Beetle. 



It presents itself in the shape of a little elongated worm, 

 26 



