AKD WINE MAKING. 323 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



INSECT AND OTHER ENEMIES OE THE VINE. 



The most destructive insect is the phylloxera, which 

 is fully described in the first part of this book. We also 

 have most of the other insects injurious to the vine 

 which are common in the East, except the grape curcu- 

 lio, which has never been seen here as yet. Grasshop- 

 pers have been very destructive in some sections of the 

 Pacific slope, and had to be combated by the same means 

 employed east of the Rockies. Soma dug ditches, in 

 which the grasshoppers were crushed by heavy logs 

 dragged along ; others kept heavy rollers moving along 

 the side of the vineyard from which the invading hosts 

 approached. Such visitations are very rare, however, 

 and occur only at long intervals and in certain localities. 

 Cutworms have been very destructive in some of the 

 raisin vineyards, eating the young shoots at night. 

 Thousands were poisoned by a mixture of Paris green in 

 water and bran, scattered in small doses under the vines. 



Of birds, the linnet and California quail are among 

 the enemies of the grape. Ground squirrels are very 

 troublesome and destructive, but may be kept in check 

 by poisoned wheat thrown into their holes. When they 

 are not very numerous a shot gun in hands that can use 

 it, is a suflScient defense. The large California hare, or 

 jack-rabbit, is hard on young vines and grafts. They 

 are not very numerous in the northern counties, but in 

 the southern ones are such a nuisance that it is found 

 necessary to start great "rabbit drives," in which the 

 men of an entire neighborhood take part, and thousands 

 of the rabbits are killed. 



