30G PHYLLOXERA VASTATRIX, OR 
[Inclosure 3 in No. 5.] 
* M. Dupont to M. Duval. 
Bordeaux, 9th July, 1872. 
;SiR, 
In your letter of the 2nd July instant, you have 
asked from the President of the Agricultural Society 
some information on the subject of the new vine 
disease, the Phylloxera vastatrix. 
The President is absent on business connected with 
the department of agriculture, which has been 
entrusted to him by the Honorable the Minister of 
Agriculture, and I think it is my duty to reply in his 
stead. 
The disease of the vine known as Phylloxera has 
not spread to any great extent in the Gironde. The 
locality in which it has been observed for the last four 
or five years, limited to a few acres of vineyards, 
situated in one or two communes close to Bordeaux, 
is by no means extensive. 
Were we to credit mere rumour without proof, this 
devastating pest might be found more or less every- 
where. Superficial observers appear strongly inclined 
to lay at its doors the destruction of all vines. 
This is a very great mistake. For the last four 
years the vines have suffered severely from extreme 
climatic changes, chiefly from frosts. In many parts 
of the Gironde, causes arising out of the nature of the 
soil and the cultivation have been added to the 
severity of the weather. This coincidence has left our 
vineyards in anything but a flourishing condition. 
* Translated from the French. 
