THE GRAPE VINE. 1 2$ 



minute — less than a cheese-mite — that all observations 

 have to be microscopic. 



The first warning that some evil was present in a 

 vinery erected in the autumn of 1869, and planted in 

 1870, was, that two vines at the end of the house, that 

 grew with great and satisfactory vigour all through 

 1870 and up to the midsummer of 1871, soon after the 

 latter date began to flag. The leaves got prematurely 

 yellow, and dropped off. Not for a moment suspecting 

 the real cause, I was much puzzled at the occurrence, 

 it being entirely new in my experience. But as the 

 effect was so limited in its extent, and the two vines being 

 supernumeraries, and heavily cropped, the impression 

 wore off, and no minute investigation took place. In 

 the spring of 1872, most of the supernumeraries that 

 bore heavily in 1871 were removed, and the whole of the 

 permanent vines from one end of the house to the other 

 broke with equal vigour, each shoot being literally 

 packed at the points with fruit. All seemed to go right 

 till the young growths were about 3 inches long, 

 and the stored-up sap was exhausted. Then all the 

 vines at one end of the vinery, extending to the middle 

 of it, called a halt, and those at the opposite end bounded 

 on their way, running out their bunches as might have 

 been expected. The affected half " spindled away " Like 

 straws, and the bunches never ran out properly. The 

 roots were of course instantly examined, and aU the 

 most fibry and active parts of them were found in a 

 peculiar half-dead-looking condition. Not even then 

 suspecting Phylloxera as a cause, the occurrence was a 

 puzzle, and some application was suspected, though I 

 knew of nothing but pure river-water and a little soap 

 that had been used in washing the woodwork and glass. 



