74 



were sprayed with arsenate of lead in 1902, such excessive rains fell 

 that no conclusive results were obtained. But last season similar 

 spraying experiments with arsenate of lead (4 pounds in 50 gallons of 

 water) gave some very promising results. In one vineyard three plots 

 of vines gave the following striking results : On the unsprayed vines 

 the leaves were badly eaten by the beetles, and on 10 vines 97 egg 

 clusters were found ; on vines sprayed once the foliage was but little 

 eaten, and only 7 egg clusters were found on 10 vines; one plot 

 was sprayed twice and there were scarcely any signs of the foliage 

 being eaten, and a careful examination revealed but 1 egg cluster on 

 10 vines. These are certainly astonishing results, but the spraying 

 was thoroughly done, and there is scarcely a chance that any peculiar 

 conditions could have influenced the results when the plots were prac- 

 tically side by side in the same vineyard. Furthermore, another reli- 

 able vineyardist in another town who sprayed a large portion of his 

 vineyard but once feels very sure that he accomplished much toward 

 controlling this destructive pest, and an examination of his vines in 

 comparison with a neighbor's across the road gave very encouraging 

 results. Further spraj'ing will be done next season in a vineyard 

 into which a swarm of the beetles migrated and fed extensiveh T last 

 summer from a badly injured vineyard across a meadow 30 or 10 rods 

 away. This migration of the beetles in a body from one vine} 7 ard 

 into another thrifty one affording better pasturage for themselves and 

 their grubs later is a new and very alarming fact, for it means that 

 the best-cared-for vineyards are constantly menaced by neighboring 

 infested vineyards where no fight is being made against the pest. 

 Doctor Felt has captured thousands of the beetles in a "catcher," 

 designed to be drawn along on each side a row of vines. Other hand 

 " catchers" have been devised, but most vineyardists are waiting for 

 a more conclusive demonstration of the effectiveness of this laborious 

 method before they will put it into practice. 



Mr. P. J. Parrott informs me that this rootworm, which has devas- 

 tated Ohio vinej^ards for several years, is now in its "down" or non- 

 destructive period and is comparatively scarce in the infested region. 

 There are some indications that it is also disappearing as a pest from 

 the earliest-infested region in Chautauqua County, N. Y. 



An outbreak of that common grape pest, the grape leaf-hopper, 

 unprecedented in extent and destructiveness in the annals of Xew 

 York, has occurred in nearly the same region infested by rootworms 

 in Chautauqua County during the past three years. More than a 

 thousand acres of vineyards have been infested to the extent that 

 the vines did not make growth enough to furnish sufficient wood to 

 tie up for the next season's crop, and the foliage was often killed in 

 early fall, and thus the proper coloring and ripening of the fruit and 

 wood was prevented. No vines were killed, but it will be two or 

 three 3 7 ears before many vineyards regain their normal vigor. After 



