310 Vineyard Culture, 



leaves ; passing the grape-stakes through an oven, during 

 the winter, so as to destroy the eggs or larvae that 

 might be adhering to them, and the removal of old bark 

 and of the moss covering the stem of the plant. These 

 operations will certainly have a very good effect, but 

 they are incomplete, and always leave on the stem 

 some eggs, or larvae, which, owing to the two generations 

 they produce annually, soon infest the vineyard anew. 

 2d. The plan of scalding the plants with boiling water, 

 has been tried with success. This operation, suggested 

 by M. Raclet, of Romaneche, is employed in some 

 vineyards, and particularly in Beaujolais, where, by its 

 means, the pyralis, that had made great ravages during 

 several years has been got rid of. The process is as 

 follows : 



Immediately after the pruning, and before vegetation 

 has set in, when there is neither frost, wind, nor 

 rain, a workman, provided with a tin pot, holding 

 one quart, and having a long, tapering spout [Fig. 137], 

 pours boiling water over the old wood of the plant, so 

 so as to wet all the surface of each stem. Care must 

 be taken to avoid wetting the young shoots with thi^. 

 water, as it would destroy them. This scalding suffices 

 to kill the larvae and eggs deposited in the cavities of 

 the bark. We borrow from the Journal of Practical 

 Agriculture, the cut of the boiler intended to heat the 

 water [Fig. 138]. This apparatus consists of a chim- 

 ney, or heating cylinder, F F, rising from the fire- 

 place E, and forming the interior walls of the boiler. 

 The exterior walls of the vessel, A, B, C, are twelve 

 and three-quarter inches in diameter at C, and ten 

 mches in diameter at A. The fire-place curved, and 



