REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I907 37 



of the one owned by Mr D. K. Falvay. This vineyard, it may be 

 remembered, was very badly infested by root worms in 1903. The 

 situation then was so serious that a collecting- machine was made 

 and over 150,000 beetles taken in the course of two weeks from 

 about five acres. This tract has subsequently received careful cul- 

 tivation and special attention has been given to cultivating so that 

 the largest number of pupae might be destroyed by this latter pro- 

 cess. The result has been that this vineyard has been exceptionally 

 free from this pest during the past three years, probably in a large 

 measure due to the very thorough work of several years ago. An 

 examination at this time, July 10, of other vineyards, led us to 

 conclude that there had been a considerable improvement in some 

 of those that were badly infested a few years before. There were 

 some vineyards where the root worms were somewhat abundant, 

 though so far as our examinations disclosed, the pests were not 

 nearly so numerous as in earlier years. This observation was con- 

 firmed subsequently by an examination of a number of vineyards 

 Oct. 16. By far the greater number showed relatively little injury 

 to the vines as indicated by the amount of feeding on the foliage, 

 while in scattered localities there had undoubtedly been large num- 

 bers of beetles present and the indications are, in these latter cases, 

 that considerable injury has been inflicted and more may follow 

 next year unless some adequate measures are adopted for checking 

 this pest. 



The root worm outbreak in Chautauqua county appears to have 

 passed through the first and most severe stage and we may now 

 expect a period during which this pest will be much less injurious, 

 though it should be borne in mind that so far as individual vine- 

 yards are concerned, there is still danger of severe injury here 

 and there throughout the grape belt. It is therefore most advisable 

 for all growers to keep a close watch upon conditions in the vine- 

 yards so that destructive tendencies can be promptly checked. Un- 

 doubtedly the better care and cultivation given the vines in recent 

 years has had much to do with bringing about these marked 

 improvements, since this treatment has resulted in a more vigorous 

 growth and corresponding resistant powers. It is well known that 

 root worm injury is most likely to be serious on lig-ht sandy soils. 

 This is due partly to the fact that the insects seem to thrive better 

 there, and somewhat to the lower resistance of the vines, since we 

 have repeatedly seen vineyards on clayey soils infested by enormous 

 numbers of root worms and yet showing comparatively few signs 



