60 THE GEAPE ROOT-WORM. 



in 1870 by C. V. Riley, who relates an instance where a vineyardist, 

 having observed that the beetles have the habit of falling from the 

 foliage to the ground when the vines are jarred and that they have a 

 tendency to '^play possum/^ and also that they were readily devoured 

 by his chickens, was able to destroy many of them in his vineyard 

 by having a boy drive his flock of chickens through the vineyard 

 while he shook the beetle-infested vines in front of them. 



In 1872 Kridelbaugh suggested handpicking of the beetles from 

 the vines and also the use of an arsenical spray. 



Not until 1895, however, when Professor Webster made his inves- 

 tigation of the pest in Ohio, were methods for its control seriously 

 considered. During his investigation Professor Webster conducted 

 experiments with salt, kainit, tobacco, kerosene emulsion, and carbon 

 bisulphid against the larvae in the soil, all of which appear to have 

 given indifferent results. The carbon bisulphid, although partially 

 effective, was likely to injure the roots of the vines and was also 

 too expensive to be practicable. He also used kerosene emulsion 

 against the adults, both on the foliage and after they had fallen to 

 the ground. Pyrethrum in solution was used in the same manner, 

 but with very indifferent results. Arsenical sprays were applied to 

 the foliage in an attempt to poison the beetles, using London purple 

 and Paris green, 4 ounces to 50 gallons of water, and arsenate of lead, 

 1 pound to 150 gallons of water. Although there was evidence that 

 some beetles were destroyed by the use of these arsenicals, the results 

 were far from conclusive. Later experiments in Ohio with arsenicals 

 against the pest gave more encouraging results, yet the practice of 

 spraying as a method of control never became general. Therefore 

 in 1900, when the insect appeared in destructive numbers in the 

 vineyards of Chautauqua County, N. Y., it was again the subject of 

 experimentation by both the late Prof. M. V. Slingerland, of Cornell 

 University Agricultural Experiment Station, and by Prof. E. P. Felt, 

 of the New York State Museum to determine effective methods of 

 control. 



During the early part of the investigation it was shown that early 

 in June the larvae come near the surface of the soil to make the pupal 

 cells in which they transform to beetles, and that thorough stirring 

 of the first 3 or 4 inches of the soil, especially beneath the trellis, will 

 expose and destroy a large number of the pupae. On account of the 

 somewhat unsatisfactory and inconclusive results obtained with 

 arsenical sprays in former years in Ohio, Doctor Felt gave consider- 

 able attention to the perfecting of a device for collecting the beetles 

 by jarring them into troughlike receptacles containing kerosene oil 

 which could be operated either by hand or by horsepower where 

 large areas of vineyard have to be treated. That large numbers of 

 the beetles can be captured and destroyed by this method is demon- 



