159 
“Laterally we have received some reports, communicated to the French 
Academy of Sciences, dealing with the attempts which have been 
made during the last three or four years to arrest the mischief done 
by the insect, and ultimately to destroy it altogether, by means of 
some potent drug. It is obvious that the remedy to be employed 
must possess two qualities at starting, viz: It must destroy the insect, 
and it must not damage, to any great extent, the vine. But, further, 
it is not sufficient that when put in close contact with the roots of a 
plant—as in a pot—it should prove fatal to the insect; it is necessary, 
if the remedy is to be of real practical value, that it should reach 
and destroy the Phylloxera on all the parts attacked by it in vines 
which are planted out in the open air. This is a real difficulty to 
overcome, as the remedy, be it in the form of solution or of vapor, 
cannot easily permeate the soil, sometimes clayey, sometimes sandy, 
on which the vine is growing, so as to reach and act upon the smaller 
root branches, whose nutrition the Phylloxera diverts into itself. 
“M. Mouillefert, a professor at the School of Agricultural at Grignon, 
was the gentleman delegated by the Academy of Science to make the 
necessary experiments for the purpose of determining what agent was 
the most practically applicable to the destruction of the Phylloxera; 
and the account of the numerous substances employed by him, with 
varying results, fills no less than two-hundred pages of a memorial 
presented to the Academy of Sciences. It is not our intention here 
to give more than a brief resume of the results at which he arrived. 
“He divides the substances used by him into seven groups, the first 
of which was composed of manures of various kinds such as guano, 
super-phosphates, farm muck, etc; the second of neutral substances, as 
water, soot and sand; the third of alkalies, as ammonia and soda; the 
fourth, of saline products, among which were the sulphates of iron, 
copper, zinc, potassium and ammonia, alum and sea salt; the fifth of 
vegetable essences and products, as decoctions of hemp, datura, ab¬ 
sinthe, valerian and tobacco; the sixth, of empyreumatic products; 
and the seventh of sulphur compounds. It was with some of the 
substances contained in this last group that really satisfactory results 
were obtained; and it is to M. Dumas, the Permanent Secretary of 
the French Academy of Sciences, that the credit is due for suggest¬ 
ing the employment of the alkaline sulpho-carbonates of potassium 
and sodium, and those of barium. All the other classes of remedies 
mentioned above were either without effect on the Phylloxera, or in 
destroying it, also destroyed or damaged the vine. 
“The sulpho-carbonates, which were carefully studied by the great 
Sweedish chemist, Berzelius, are obtained by combining the alkaline 
monosulphides with the bi-sulphide of carbon, are either liquid or 
solid, and emit a powerful odor of sulphuretted hydrogen and bi¬ 
sulphide of carbon.” 
“The alkaline sulpho-carbonates, in the solid state, are of beautiful 
reddish yellow color and deliquescent, but are not easily obtainable in 
that condition; the sulpho-carbonate of barium can be easily produced, 
however, in a solid state, and presents the appearance of a yellow 
powder, but little soluble in water. The sulpho-carbonates decompose 
under the influence of carbonic acid, forming a carbonate, and evolv¬ 
ing sulphuretted hydrogen and bi-sulphide of carbon. These two 
latter substances are gradually liberated, and as they have a very 
powerful effect on the Phylloxera, one can understand that the sulpho- 
