THE PHYLLOXERA OF THE VINE 159 



Scrubbing the bark with a carbolised solution of soft soap 

 (soap, 10 parts; carbolic acid, 2 parts; water to make up 100 

 parts) is a simple but effective remedy. The whole tree should 

 be cleansed at the same time, and neighbouring trees care- 

 fully watched. Spra)?ing with petroleum emulsion has also 

 been recommended. The insects soon reappear, so that the 

 operation must be repeated at frequent intervals. The earth 

 about the base of the trunk should be treated with the same 

 solution, or tobacco-dust may be dug in. Boughs cankered 

 by the blight should be cut away. The scrubbing is most 

 easily and thoroughly done when the boughs are bare, but an 

 attack at any season of the year can be reduced to small pro- 

 portions with little labour. Complete extermination is a work 

 of time. 



In Australia, where most apple-trees were formerly infested 

 by the American blight, two varieties of apple (Northern Spy 

 and Majetin) have been found to possess a bark so close and 

 firm as to resist piercing by the aphis, and these are now 

 regularly used as stocks. 



(e) The Phylloxera of the Vine 



The Phylloxera of the vine is a minute insect which has 

 been closely studied during the last forty years on account 

 of the frightful devastation which it has caused in the vine- 

 yards of France. It reached Europe from North America, 

 where it infests the native vines, though without inflicting 

 any remarkable injury; in America it chiefly attacks the 

 leaves, forming galls upon them. In 1863, the Phylloxera 

 appeared in the vineyards of Languedoc (department of Card), 

 and soon afterwards in those of the Gironde; it is now a 

 dreaded enemy in the greater part of the wine-growing de- 

 partments of France. The northern districts, however, and 

 especially Champagne, are nearly exempt. With some few 

 exceptions, all the warmer wine -growing countries of the 

 world have now been attacked, or at least threatened by this 

 calamitous pest, but France is much the greatest sufferer. 



The insect first attracts attention by the injury which it 

 inflicts upon the roots of the vine. The growth of the tree 

 is checked ; only few and small leaves are put forth, which 

 become discoloured, curl backwards, and wither early; the 



