54: JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Virgil speaks of the putris tela (the mouldering web), and this is 

 what he weaves. He produces a short dry staple out of the juiciest 

 and most buxom leaf before we have time to cry " duck him." 

 Not many things at the present time amaze a ripe Grape-grower ; 

 but hoariness falls upon him less unwitting than on the growth 

 he sees not in the looking-glass. The residue of his hair stands 

 up at the mischief done since last he shaved, and he uses a 

 shorter ejaculation than Tetranychus telarius. " This remedy, 

 applied with perseverance, will be sure to destroy it," says Mr. 

 Barron, and he never speaks in vain. 



The thrip — Thrips minutissima (fig. 5), also called, if I re- 

 member rightly, Plilaothrips coriacea, a member of the Thysano- 

 ptera — is a very striking but rarer plague. He certainly arises 

 less directly from the will of the Almighty, and more from the 

 degeneracy of Adam, who brings into the vinery trees forbid- 

 den — Azaleas, Abutilons, and the like. When once set up, he is 

 even swifter in circulation than red- spider, and he seems to dwell 

 in a mackintosh, for no syringing disturbs him. Sponge, soft- 

 soap, tobacco-water — every hand must be in use at once, if thy 

 desire is to see thy Vine leaves ripen properly. 



Again, there is the mealy-bug — Coccus adonidum (fig. 6) 

 he was called, now Dactylopius adonidum — a frightful pest, if he 

 once gets in, and always eager for admission. The emmets may 

 be seen in early spring, fingering something daintily, perhaps on 

 the stem of the Vine, perhaps in the tangle of set berries. A 

 closer gaze will show what they are about ; they have brought a 

 little soft white atom, and they are establishing a baby-farm. 

 Their object, however, is impurely selfish. They hope to suck 

 fatness by-and-by from the exudations and secretions of this un- 

 welcome little stranger. With a pointed stick, and perhaps an 

 eyeglass — if he has seen too much of the world already — the lover 

 of the Grape must fetch out every one of these woolly molecules, 

 for if once they flourish in the bunch he will have a mealy mass 

 of filth, instead of goodly berries ; and then let him search every 

 cranny of the Vine for the rest of the loathsome family. 



Of the Vine-scale, another of the Coccus race, I have not had 

 much experience. A tooth-brush, dripping with strong insecticide, 

 will give them their meed, if applied at once. But I fear to have 

 trespassed too far already on the province of the entomologist. 



(c) My catalogue should have exhausted already the many 

 bitter enemies of our innocent, lovely, and grateful friend ; but 



