THE GRAPE VINE. 11/ 



Mealy Bug. — This, like thrip, will not appear on vines 

 unless brought into the vinery on other plants. But 

 once it gets a footing, it is one of the most trouble- 

 some of insects; and if left to have its own way, 

 will breed with wonderful rapidity, and overrun the 

 whole wood, foliage, and fruit. The very first appear- 

 ance of it should be the signal for dealing with it as 

 promptly and thoroughly as possible. While the vines 

 are in leaf, the most effectual way is to pick it off 

 with a pointed piece of stick. The winter is the 

 time to eradicate it. Every morsel of loose bark under 

 which it creeps must be removed, the vines thoroughly 

 scrubbed with water, in which about the size of an egg 

 of soft soap and a gill of tobacco-liquor to every gallon 

 has been mixed. After this, take the first opportunity of 

 exposing the vines to say 8° frost for a few nights in suc- 

 cession, and then paint up every crevice thickly with the 

 mixture already recommended. 



Phylloxera, vastatrix. — Horticulturists have within the 

 last few years had a most formidable addition to the host 

 of foes with which they have to grapple iilthe successful 

 cultivation of the grape vine. And it is scarcely possible 

 to conceive of a more insidious and destructive enemy 

 than the new invader — Phylloxera vastafrix^-is proving 

 itself to be. Any who have had an opportunity of 

 watching the destructive power of this tiny insect, will 

 not be at all surprised to know — especially when the 

 enormous interest that France has at stake in her vine- 

 yards is taken into consideration — that the French Gov- 

 ernment are so alarmed at its appearance that they 

 have offered a reward of a million francs to any person 

 who will devise a means of destroying the pest, with- 

 out, at the same time, destroying the vines. Accord- 



