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otherwise have been of some practical service. What the interests 

 of the vine-grower require are measures not so much of a remedial 

 as of a preventive character, and this can only be accomplished bj 

 means of proper discipline and organization, so that the very first 

 indications of the disease may at once be reported to the proper 

 authorities. If we have to wait until any locality has been 

 attacked, as has been the case at Bendigo, before we adopt some 

 practical means of ascertaining the fact at a very much earlier 

 period "of its existence, I am afraid that the outlook for Vic- 

 torian vine-growers is not a happy one. Their present position 

 may be compared to that of a defenceless lamb paralyzed with 

 fear at the sight of its enemy about to spring upon and devour it. 

 In my opinion, the proper person to disfljfcrer the phylloxera or 

 any other disease in his vineyard is the grower himself, and the 

 proper authorities to see that he does his duty in this respect, or 

 if need be, to assist him, are local surveillance committees or com- 

 mittees of inspection, having certain official powers, such as have 

 been appointed in other countries for the same purpose. These 

 may or may not be associated with and responsible to a District 

 Phylloxera Board, according to- the necessities and importance of 

 the viticultural area to which they belong, the whole being under 

 the direction and control of a central or superior Phylloxera Com- 

 mission, under the presidency of the Minister of Agriculture or 

 his deputy. The special nature and functions of these different 

 Committees or Boards are fully described in the reports of the 

 French Grovernment relating to its phylloxera legislation. The 

 policy of the French Government in dealing with this question 

 has always been to encourage the formation among the growers 

 themselves of associations or syndicates, whose object it was to 

 keep a vigilant look out for any indications of the existence of the 

 parasite in their particular commune or locality ; others, called 

 " Treatment Syndicates," were organized to apply a certain form 

 of treatment prescribed by the Superior Board in any locality 

 already affected. In furtherance of these objects the associations 

 or syndicates subscribe a certain sum, which is supplemented by 

 a Government grant to a similar amount* At the International 

 Phylloxera Convention held at Berlin, in 1878, the seven contract- 

 ing countries, viz., Germany, Austro-Hungary, Spain, France, 

 Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland adopted a uniform code of 

 international regulations for the better prevention of the spread 

 of the disease. Within its boundaries each country has its own 

 local phylloxera laws, thus it may be said that the whole of the 

 viticultural countries of Central and Southern Europe are under 

 a kind of phylloxera martial law. The result of this combined 

 action has been that during the past few years the virulence of 

 the disease has been steadily decreasing in Europe, and in certain 

 parts the vineyards that had been destroyed, having beea 



