Of insect enemies we have the phylloxera of bad eminence, which
has so dismayed Europe. The man who could discover and patent an
adequate remedy in France might soon rival a Rothschild in his
wealth. The remedy abroad is also ours--to plant varieties which
are phylloxera-proof, or nearly so. Fortunately we have many which
defy this pestiferous little root-louse, and European vine-growers
have been importing them by the million. They are still used
chiefly as stocks on which to graft varieties of the vinifera
species. In California, grapes of the vinifera or European species
are generally cultivated; but the phylloxera is at its destructive
work among them. The wine-grapes of the future throughout the
world may be developed from the hardy cestivalis and cordifolia
classes. In many localities, even in this new land, varieties like
the Delaware succumb to this scourge of foreign vineyards.
The aphis, or plant-louse, sometimes attacks the young, tender
shoots of the vine. The moment they appear, take off the shoot,
and crush it on a board with the foot. Leaf-rollers, the grape-
vine sphinx, and caterpillars in general must be caught by hand
and killed. Usually they are not very numerous. The horrid little
rose-chafers or rose-bugs are sometimes very destructive. Our best
course is to take a basin of water and jar them off into it--they
fall readily--and then scald them to death.
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