Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 September 1876 — The Phylloxera in France. [ARTICLE]

The Phylloxera in France.

As is usual at this season of the year, a good deal of interest is manifested in the doings of the phylloxera, whose deeds this year will cost France the neat little sum of |28,000,000, that being the amount of damage already done to the wine crop. Whence comes this destructive pest? Nobody knows; and all that is certain is that it made its appearance in 1865 in Provence. It is supposed to have come from America, though why such a belief should have arisen is not very apparent. As is well known, it attacks the roots of the vine and is most terribly destructive. It is extremely minute, being about a quarter of the size of an ordinary flea, and resembles a tiny bead of yellow amber, though it is difficult to perceive it with the naked eye. In 1875 the combined science of the Na-. tion, the Academy of Sciences itself, was called upon to combat this pitiless destroyer, and a prize of SOO,OOO was offered for whoever should discover a preventive against its ravages, the highest prize as yet offered for any discovery in France, the next being that of $20,000 for a specific against the cholera. But science and cupidity combined have so far proved powerless to invent a remedy against the phylloxera. Its ravages increase with every passing year, and serious fears are manifested this season lest the vines should at some future day utterly perish from off the soil of France. This result is hardly probable, however, and a recent writer calls attention to the fact that the coffee plants in the West Indies were once attacked by a sort of odium called the rust that rendered them completely sterile, all the blossoms perishing before they arrived at maturity. After devasting the plantations for several years, the destroyer departed as suddenly as it had come, and the coffee plants of the Antilles are as flourishing as ever. Thus he hopes it may be with the phylloxera. He also states that though no actual panacea for the evil has been found, sundry palliatives have been tried with good effect, such as richly manuring the roots of the vines affected, planting in particular soils, either very sandy or of stiff tenacious clay, etc. He mentions the fact that certain varieties of American vines are never attacked by the phylloxera, and that the experiment of grafting the finest French varieties on these American plants has so far succeeded perfectly. The word phylloxera is said to signify in Greek “ leafdrier.” and the irreverent French declare that the savants so christened the insects because it never attacks the leaves of the vines, but strictly confines its ravages to the roots. —Paris Cor. Philadelphia Telegraph.