GRAPEVINE ROOT WORM 43 



early results, though satisfactory, were not thought by him to be 

 conclusive, and that a marked decrease in the number of the 

 beetles vitiated later experiments to some extent, so that he did 

 not consider them as either conclusive in themselves or as dis- 

 proving the earlier work of Mr Mally. He states that arsenate of 

 lead must be tried thoroughly several times where conditions are 

 such as to enable one to obtain decisive results either one way 

 or the other before it will be safe to make definite statements. 

 Professor Stinson reports only fair success in destroying the 

 beetles with poisons in Arkansas. 



It seems very probable, therefore, that some of the Ohio 

 growers have been led to attribute the relative scarcity of these 

 beetles to the use of poison whereas it may have been due almost 

 entirely to natural conditions. 



Mr T. S. Clymonts states that in his experience spraying with 

 bordeaux mixture has proved of some benefit, since the beetles 

 prefer untreated vines and will migrate to them if near by. 



Mr J. W. Maxwell, Euclid O., writing under date of Aug. 29, 

 1903, states that he called Prof. F. M. Webster's attention to the 

 insect in 1893 and adds that in all his experience, now extending 

 over a decade, he has not found a poison that will " exterminate " 

 the insects, or, in other words, that has given satisfactory results. 



Prof. F. M. Webster has recently called our attention to a 

 case in Bloomington 111., where the owner of a badly infested 

 vineyard, began spraying thoroughly with arsenate of lead. He 

 says that the vineyard at the outset was in very poor shape, that 

 now it is returning to somewhere near its normal condition, and 

 that he fails to find the slightest indication of beetles except on 

 one or two vines. This has been accomplished within two or 

 three years ; and the owner, Mr J. L. Lampe, attributes it to the 

 use of the insecticide, with which Professor Webster is inclined 

 to coincide. Our experience with the pest suggests that possibly 

 many of the insects may have forsaken this vineyard because of 

 its poor foliage and gone to others where there was better shelter, 

 and that therefore the protection afforded by the arsenate of 

 lead may have been overestimated. In a later com- 

 munication, Professor Webster states that he has found great 

 numbers of dead beetles under sprayed vines and none under those 



