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Page 23
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. We may discover lady-
bugs--small red or yellow and black beetles--among our vines, and
many persons, I fear, will destroy them with the rest. We should
take off our hats to them and wish them godspeed. In their
destruction of aphides and thrips they are among our best friends.
The camel-cricket is another active destroyer of injurious
insects. Why do not our schools teach a little practical natural
history? Once, when walking in the Catskills, I saw the burly
driver of a stage-load of ladies bound out of his vehicle to kill
a garter-snake, the pallid women looking on, meanwhile, as if the
earth were being rid of some terrible and venomous thing. They
ought to have known that the poor little reptile was as harmless
as one of their own garters, and quite as useful in its way. Every
country boy and girl should be taught to recognize all our helpers
in our incessant fight with insect enemies--a fight which must be
maintained with more organized vigor and intelligence than at
present, if horticulture is ever to reach its best development.
Wasps and hornets often swarm about the sweet and early ripe
varieties. A wide-mouthed bottle partially filled with molasses
and water will entrap and drown great numbers of these ugly
customers. Some of our favorite birds try our patience not a
little. During the early summer I never wearied of watching the
musical orioles flashing with their bright hues in and out of the
foliage about the house; but when the early grapes were ripe, they
took pay for their music with the sang-froid of a favorite prima
donna. On one occasion I saw three or four alight on a Diana vine,
and in five minutes they had spoiled a dozen clusters. If they
would only take a bunch and eat it up clean, one would readily
share with them, for there would be enough for all; but the dainty
little epicures puncture an indefinite number of berries, merely
taking a sip from each. Then the wasps and bees come along and
finish the clusters. The cardinal, cat-bird, and our unrivalled
songster the wood-thrush, all help themselves in the same wasteful
fashion. One can't shoot wood-thrushes. We should almost as soon
think of killing off our Nilssons, Nevadas, and Carys. The only
thing to do is to protect the clusters; and this can be
accomplished in several ways. The most expeditious and
satisfactory method is to cover the vines of early grapes with
cheap mosquito netting. Another method is to make little bags of
this netting and inclose each cluster. Last fall, two of my
children tied up many hundreds of clusters in little paper bags,
which can be procured at wholesale for a trifling sum. The two
lower corners of the paper bags should be clipped off to permit
the rain to pass freely through them. Clusters ripen better, last
longer on the vine, and acquire a more exquisite bloom and flavor
in this retirement than if exposed to light as well as to birds
and wasps. Not the fruit but the foliage of the grape-vine needs
the sun.
Few of the early grapes will keep long after being taken from the
vine; but some of the later ones can be preserved well into the
winter by putting them in small boxes and storing them where the
temperature is cool, even, and dry. Some of the wine-grapes, like
Norton's Virginia, will keep under these conditions almost like
winter apples. One October day I took a stone pot of the largest
size and put in first a layer of Isabella grapes, then a double
thickness of straw paper, then alternate layers of grapes and
paper, until the pot was full. A cloth was next pasted over the
stone cover, so as to make the pot water-tight. The pot was then
buried on a dry knoll below the reach of frost, and dug up again
on New Year's Day. The grapes looked and tasted as if they had
just been picked from the vine.
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