8 The Phylloxera. 



BUSHBERG CATALOGUE. 



Am. Species. 



absence of any satisfactory reason for these 

 failures, it is quite natural that renewed at- 

 tempts were and are continually made.* In 

 the spring of 1867, we ourselves imported from 

 Austria about 300 rooted vines (Veltliner, 

 Blue Baden, Riesling, Tokay, Uva Pana, 

 &c.), not with expectations of success in open 

 air culture, but with a view to discover, by 

 careful observation, the real cause of failure, 

 and knowing the true cause, to be then, per- 

 haps, able to obviate it. The vines grew 

 splendidly, but during the summer of 1839, 

 though bearing some beautiful fruit, their fol- 

 iage began to wear a yellow, sickly appear- 

 ance. In 1870 many were dying and we almost 

 despaired of discovering the cause, whan Prof. 

 C. V. Riley, then our State Entomologist, in- 

 formed us that the. discovery had just been 

 made in France, by Planchon and Lichten- 

 stein, that the serious grape disease which had 

 attacked their noble vineyards was caused by 

 a root-louse (Phylloxera), which bears a close 

 resemblance to our American grapeleaf gall- 

 louse, an insect long known here. In 1871 and 

 since, Prof. Riley often visited our vineyards, 

 as we gave Ijim full permission and cheerfully 

 assisted him to unearth both diseased and 

 healthy vines, native and foreign, of every 

 kind, in order to examine their roots and to 

 study the question. By his observations and 

 those of Prof. Planchon, mide by both in this 

 country as well as in France, and afterwards 

 confirmed and verified by all prominent nat- 

 uralists, the identity of the American insect 

 With the one discovered in France, and of the 

 two types, the gall and the root-lice, has bean 

 substantiated. Thus, the principal cause of 

 the absolute failure of European vines in this 

 country has been discovered, but no satisfac- 

 tory remedy has been found. So far, it seems 

 impossible to destroy or to guard against this 

 insect enemy ; while the vigorous roots of our 



experimenter, says " I raised many hundred vines from 

 seeds of different foreign grapes. These seeds were 

 planted under glass, and the vines remained in the 

 house two years, when they were removed to the open 

 air. Xone of them proved healthy * * * * they all died 

 in a few years, though well covered in winter." 



*Thos. Rush, a German, planted (in 1860) varieties of 

 the Vinifera on Kelley's Island; they seemed to succeed 

 the first three years remarkably well, then they died 

 and were replaced by Catawba vineyards. 



As late as 1872, M. J. Labiaux, at Ridgway, North Car- 

 olina, undertook to plant vineyards with 70,000 cuttings 

 (principally Aramons), imported from Southern France. 

 In the same vicinity, Bug. Morel, a pupil of Dr. Jules 

 Guyot (the best authority on French grape culture), and 

 others, were also cultivating several thousands of Euro- 

 pean vines without success. 



The only satisfactory method of obtaining the fine 

 foreign grapes in this country is under glass, by the use 

 of the grapery. This, however, so far, is done on a very 

 limited scale only, as a luxury for the table; and even 

 there the roots of the vines in the outside border are ex- 

 posed to the danger of being infested by the Phylloxera; 

 so that vines grafted on American roots shoiild be used. 

 Those who desire and can afford to enjoy this luxury 

 we refer for information to Peter Henderson's excellent 

 nooks on gardening. 



American vines enjoy a relative immunity front 

 its injuries, the pest thrives on the tender roots 

 of the European vines, which readily succumb. 

 The French Commission, in its report to the 

 Viticultural Congress, held atMontpellier, Oct. 

 1874, came to the conclusion that " In presence 

 of the non-success obtained from all attempts 

 made since 1868, with a view to preserve or 

 cure our vines, and feeling that after six years 

 of efforts in this direction, no process except 

 submersion has been found effective, many 

 persons are quite discouraged, and 863 in the 

 American vines, whether justly so or not, the 

 only plank of safety." Since that time, where- 

 soever the most careful, practical grape-grow- 

 ers and most scientific naturalists met and 

 exchanged their views, as at the International 

 Congress held at Lyons, France, and at Sara- 

 gossa, Spain, in 1880 ; at Bordeaux in 1881, the 

 leading principle established has been : "that 

 the Phylloxera cannot be exterminated where 

 it once infests the vineyards, nor can its intro- 

 duction be prevented by any precautionary 

 measures ; but that there are some means 

 whereby, in spite of the insect, we may yet 

 save our vineyards from destruction, and enjoy 

 their richly paying returns ; and that the most 

 practical, the simplest, cheapest and* surest 

 means is by planting the resisting American 

 grapas." Already millions of American grape- 

 vines are growing in France, hundreds of 

 thousands in Spain, Italy, Hungary, etc. 

 How much more, then, must WE look to spe- 

 cies which we find indigenous here, and to 

 their descendants, for success in grape culture. 

 A knowledge of the distinctive permanent 

 characters of our species, and a proper classifi- 

 cation of our varieties, referable to them, is of 

 far more importance than is generally sup- 

 posed.* And while many grape-growers may 

 skip over the following pages as useless, we 

 hope that some of them will thank us for em- 

 bodying in this catalogue the valuable treatise 

 on this subject by the best living authority 

 Dr. G. Engelmann (who has also kindly re- 

 vised aye, almost entirely re- written it for this 

 new edition). Twenty-five years ago Robert 

 Buchanan wrote in his book on the culture of 

 the grape: "The perfection of a definite ar- 

 rangement of all our varieties must remain for 

 future labors, but it is to be hoped an end so- 

 desirable will not be lost sight of." 



*Even A. S. Fuller, in his excellent Treatise on Grape 

 Culture, written in 1866, said " Practically it is of little 

 consequence what view is taken of these unusual 

 forms (of distinct species, or marked varieties of the 

 species), as the cultivator is interested in them only 

 as varieties, and it is of no particular moment to him 

 whether we have one hundred or only one native spe- 

 cies." We are satisfied that he considers it of far more 

 consequence now. 



