286 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
habit of the plants, though in some, the 
flowers in their natural state are of tints not 
found in the other section, and in two species 
the lobes of the corolla are deeply divided or 
cleft. If these will hybridize with the sec¬ 
tion of “Perennial Phloxes,” it will allow 
new forms, and perhaps new colors to be in¬ 
troduced among them. One of the rarest of 
the species of this section—indeed one of the 
rarest of our Phloxes, unless it may be some 
of the high mountains, is Phlox Stellctria, it 
having been found only in a locality in Ken¬ 
tucky and sparingly in Southern Illinois. 
The slender, smooth stems are six to eight 
inches high, the leaves narrow, the flowers 
white, with a bluish tinge, are of the size 
given in the engraving, and as there shown 
each lobe is cleft, as are the petals of the 
Chickweeds ( Stellaria ), a resemblance that no 
doubt suggested the specific name. There is 
but one other species of Phlox with the lobes 
thus split, P. bifida, which is less rare than 
the present one, and is found in Illinois and 
Missouri. It differs from its relative, among 
other points, in being downy and in having 
pale purple flowers. 
The Grape-Vine Leaf Hopper—“Thrips.” 
The little insect so common upon grape¬ 
vines, generally known as “Thrips,” is very 
different from the true Thrips of the green¬ 
house ; though placed in the same order of 
insects they belong to very unlike genera. 
In July and later, if one passes through a 
vineyard where they abound, he will be 
annoyed with clouds of a minute insect, 
which as it flies gives the impression of being 
of a dirty white color. If examined with a 
microscope, the little creature—for it is only 
about V,o of an inch long, will be found to 
have great beauty; its general color is pale 
yellow or straw color, with red markings on 
its head and wings, and black dots on the tips 
of its wings—or properly—wing covers. The 
insects appear on the underside of the grape- 
leaves in June, but as they do not reach their 
perfect state, and have their wings, until 
later, they are but little noticed. They pene¬ 
trate the leaf with their 
beaks and subsist upon its 
juices, and when present— 
as they often are, in large 
numbers, do much injury to 
the vine. The entomologist’s 
name for it is Tettigonia Vi- 
tis (Erythroneura of some), 
and as the name Thrips 
belongs to a very differ¬ 
ent insect, that name should be dropped, 
and the Grape Vine Leaf-Hopper adopted. 
Some localities are quite free from this insect, 
and in places where it has been abundant, it 
sometimes suddenly disappears. It is less 
injurious to the Concord and others of that 
class, but thin-leaved varieties derived from 
the cestivalis, etc., often suffer severely, the 
foliage being destroyed before the fruit can 
mature. The insect passes the winter under 
fallen leaves and whatever will afford it shel¬ 
ter ; it is advised to gather and burn the leaves 
soon after they have fallen. The only method 
proposed for attacking the living insect is to 
carry torches through the vineyard at night, 
and beat the vines to disturb them ; myriads 
will fly into the flame and be destroyed. A 
correspondent, at Princeton, N. J., tells 
of his tribulations with ‘ ‘ Thrips ” in a cold 
grapery, and writes in despair for aid. If any 
THE GRAPE I.EAF- 
HOPPER. 
have been successful in treating this insect 
under glass, we hope they will tell about it. 
The Grape Vine in Summer. 
In all our writings on the management of 
the vine, we have endeavored to induce the 
reader to observe the manner of its growth, 
and to illustrate general principles, rather 
than to lay down exact rules to be followed. 
Where vines are trained according to any 
particular system, the majority of them will 
grow regularly, and if the system be properly 
followed, the vines will look “just like the 
the pictures in the book.” But vines are liv¬ 
ing things, and every one of them will not 
grow according to pattern. Some individuals 
will fail to produce buds in the regular place, 
or will push out shoots where they do not be¬ 
long. In such cases, one who understands 
the manner of growth will know what to do 
with the vine ; he can treat each individual 
according to its special needs. On the other 
hand he who blindly follows directions, is 
“ all at sea,” when he meets with these ex¬ 
ceptional vines. In the nature of the case 
there can be no invariable rule. It is well to 
adopt some system or method of training 
and endeavor to follow it as near as may be, 
but when some accident, or some peculiarity 
of a particular vine breaks up the system, 
w r e must know how to make the best of it. 
We once heard the late Mr. Knox, a most 
successful grape grower, when asked what 
system of training he followed, reply: “That 
which will best keep my trellis filled with 
bearing canes,” which was merely another 
way of saying: “I treat every vine as it 
seems at the time to require.” In all methods 
of training certain points are recognized, and 
certain things must be done in all. When in 
our spring “Notes about Work,” we advise 
to pinch the growing shoot and allow one to 
three leaves above the uppermost cluster of 
flower buds to remain, we give directions 
that are applicable to all vines ; whether the 
vine is trained according to a system, or has 
been allowed to run hap-hazard over an ar¬ 
bor, this checking the fruiting shoot will be 
beneficial. This operation should have been 
done as early as the growth of the shoot al¬ 
lowed the number of clusters and leaves to 
be distinctly seen. When this check is given 
to the growth of the shoot in length, the 
remaining leaves will soon develop to a 
greater size and firmness, and later the fruit 
will be larger and finer than on shoots that 
have been allowed to grow at will. In the 
summer treatment of the vine, we wish to 
supplement this pinching for the benefit of 
the fruit, or if the vine has not been thus 
treated, do what we can for next year’s crop. 
Soon after a leaf has become well developed, 
two small buds will appear in its “ axil,” or 
on the shoot just where the leaf stalk joins 
it. One of these buds will soon push to 
form a side-shoot or “ lateral,” while the other 
bud will remain dormant until next year. 
The Laterals. —We stop the growth of these 
for the same reason that we did the further 
elongation of the main shoot—to aid the de¬ 
velopment of the fruit, or upon shoots where 
there is no fruit, to increase the size and 
strength of the shoots themselves. The en¬ 
graving is borrowed from Prof. Geo. IIus- 
mann’s admirable “American Grape Growing 
and Wine Making,” to illustrate the treat¬ 
ment of the laterals. Here the laterals are 
seen to start from the main shoot, and the 
METHOD OF PINCHING GRAPE 
VINES. 
cross lines show where they are to be pinched. 
It will be noticed that the lower leaf is left 
upon each lateral; if the whole shoot were 
removed, as was formerly advised by some, 
the effect would be to start the other bud into 
growth, but allowing a single leaf to remain 
prevents that. After the pinching, this re¬ 
maining leaf will grow to a large size, shel¬ 
tering the fruit from the sun, and contribut¬ 
ing to its nourishment. After a while, a shoot 
will start from 
the axil of this 
leaf, which is to 
be pinched, as 
before, to one 
leaf, and should 
there be still 
another shoot 
from this last, 
pinch again. 
More than three 
pinchings are 
rarely required. 
There are cases 
in which it is 
desirable to al¬ 
low the laterals 
to grow, to get canes for a purpose, but as a 
rule they are to be treated as here described. 
Tendrils appear opposite each leaf where 
there is not a bunch. A young tendril is 
soft and may be removed by a pinch; when 
ripe it is almost as hard as wire and becomes 
a nuisance in after pruning. In training our 
vines we use a trellis with upright wires, and 
prefer to remove all tendrils and keep the 
shoots tied up. With horizontal wires it is 
customary to allow them to remain, where 
they will be of use in holding up the shoot, 
though we think it would save trouble to 
remove them and use ties of soft cotton cord. 
Chance Shoots will often break through the 
bark on the old vine, stems appearing here 
and there without any regular order. It may 
happen that such a shoot will be useful to 
fill a gap ; if so let it be tied up to the trellis. 
As a general rule such shoots should be rub¬ 
bed off as they appear. 
Shoots without Fruit. —It is often necessary 
to grow a shoot this year to form a cane from 
which we may get bearing shoots next season. 
These when they are three feet long should 
be pinched at the end and have their laterals 
treated as has been described above. 
Mildew and Insects. —The vines should be 
sulphured at the first appearance of grayish 
spots on the under side of the leaves. Bel¬ 
lows are sold at the seed and other stores for 
the use. The majority of insects that attack 
the vine at this season are large and may be 
removed rapidly by hand-picking. 
Moa-ticsBlltf save iai New Yorlt.—For 
something like a quarter of a century the peo¬ 
ple of New York City had appeared as if ut¬ 
terly indifferent to horticulture. The organ¬ 
ization, a few years ago, of a Horticultural 
Society, showed that an interest in such mat¬ 
ters really existed, and it only needed such a 
nucleus as the Society afforded to gather the 
scattered workers and show that there was 
really a large number devoted to, and suc¬ 
cessfully following, horticultural pursuits. 
The monthly exhibitions of the Society show 
an activity and interest which go far to offset 
the former apathy, and we doubt if the older 
Societies of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts 
can present larger or finer displays than are 
to be seen at Republican Hall, No. 55 West 
