82 
EOTAL HOETICULTrRAL SOCIETY, 
Berkeley, the eminent cryptogamist, visited Powerscourt, and in- 
vestigated the appearance and habits of the insect on the spot, 
and came to the conclusion that it was closely allied, if not iden- 
tical with, the insect then devastating the vineyards in France. 
Having learned so much, I feared the vines were almost beyond 
recovery ; more especially so when, on turning up a part of the 
border to examine the condition of the roots, I found them at- 
tacked by the insect in myriads, burrowing into the young root- 
lets in the same way as they did in the young wood, and com- 
pletely destroying them. The roots being in such a bad state, I 
tried every thing I could think of at the time to try to stop the 
ravages of the insect ; such as watering with strong farmyard 
manure-water, Gruano-water, lime-water, ammoniacal liquor, di- 
luted turpentine, &c. ; but nothing that I tried had tlie desired 
effect of killing the insects thoroughly, except when used strong 
enough to kill the roots too, which I did not wish to do ; there- 
fore I kept on trying all I could to keep them from increasing 
until the vines would be at rest, when I could with safety give 
both roots and stems a thorough cleaning. 
Being late vines, the grapes were not all cut until about Christ- 
mas, when I immediately set about cleaning them by removing 
all the leaves still left, closely pruning the young wood, stripping 
the stem clean of all loose bark, and then thoroughly washing 
them with a stiff brush and pure water. Having thus cleaned 
the tops, I began at the roots by lifting them carefully out of the 
soil and cutting away all the badly infected parts, going patiently 
over those left and cutting clean off all spots of canker showing 
where the insects were or had been, then washing them in 
the same manner as I had done the stems, going over them two 
or three times to make sure they were thoroughly clean, then 
dusting them over with an equal mixture of dry soot and newly- 
slacked lime, replanting them in some fresh soil, and filling 
up the remainder of the border with the old soil, mixing a little 
soot and lime amongst it while filling it in, and taking care to 
pick out every morsel of old root or stick that could be seen. I 
then washed the house thoroughly in every part, and painted it 
with spirits of turpentine, to destroy any insects that might be 
missed in the washing, painted the vines with the usual mixture 
of clay, soot, sulphur, soft-soap, aud tobacco, adding two ounces 
of turpentine and one ounce- of Nux vomica to every gallon of the 
mixture, and then tied thei4 in their places, leaving them alone 
