University of California Agricultural Experiment Station. 
 
 BULXETIN NO 
 
 [In order to render the results of investigations 1 k e ' n S« 
 and experiments conducted by the Agricultural De- 
 partment of the University of California more quick- 
 ly and more generally available than has heretofore 
 been done through the annual or biennial reports, 
 "it is proposed to embody hereafter, in the form of 
 "Bulletins," to be issued as often as may seem de- 
 sirable, report of results, as well as such other discus- 
 sions, information or answers to questions as may 
 be of general interest. It is intended to make these 
 bulletins, as a rule, short enough for insertion in the 
 daily or weekly papers of the State, and proof-slips 
 of the same will be regularly mailed to papers apply- 
 ing therefor. The substance ot these bulletins will 
 ultimately be embodied in a more complete and con- 
 nected form, in the annual reports of the College of 
 Agriculture.] 
 
 In answer to numerous inquries received re- 
 garding the possible efficacy of various insecti- 
 cide remedies against the phylloxera, and par- 
 ticularly with reference to the one lately sug- 
 gested in France by M. Cramoisy, the follow- 
 ing summary of the main points is abstracted 
 from a bulletin published by this department 
 in 1880: 
 
 It is not difficult to find a great variety of 
 substances that will kill the insect without 
 materially injuring the root of the vine. The 
 difficulty lies in their economically practicable 
 application . Any such remedial agent, in order 
 to be effective, must, in the case of a 
 bearing vineyard, reach not only the entire 
 surface, but must penetrate the soil to a 
 depth not less than three, and fre- 
 quently as much as eight feet in open soils. 
 It is quite useless to propose to ' 'bare the roots 
 of the vine" for any insecticide application on 
 the large scale. In a bearing vineyard the 
 roots and rootlets form one matted mass all 
 through the soil over the entire field, and it is 
 at the remote ends that the insect forms its lar- 
 gest and most flourishing colonies. To bare all 
 these is practically impossible, and would in 
 any case involve an amount of labor in- 
 compatible with the profitable maintenance of 
 the vineyard; especially if, in addition, the in- 
 secticide is to be carefully applied to all, and 
 soaked in with water, as is mostly suggested by 
 the proposers of such impracticable schemes. 
 
 There are obviously only two practicable 
 modes of giving the insecticide agent the wide 
 distribution called for. One is to apply it in 
 solution in water; the other, to make it pene- 
 trate the soil in a gaseous form. 
 
 Water alone, if applied continuously for from 
 thirty to forty days during winter, by flooding, 
 accomplishes the object to the extent to which 
 it seems feasible where the phylloxera has once 
 obtained possession; that is, to so far decrease 
 its numbers as to render it harmless for one or 
 two seasons. Where flooding is impracticable, 
 and a quantity of water sufficient to saturate so 
 large a mass of soil has to be put on the ground 
 by artificial means, and at the same time charged 
 with a more or less expensive insecticide, the 
 cost readily becomes such as to exceed the value 
 of the vineyard. This is largely due to the fact 
 that the soil is a powerful absorbent of almost all 
 substances soluble in water, thereby rendering 
 
 The same disinfecting property of soil 
 that enables it to purify the foulest water fil- 
 tered through it, without itself becoming of- 
 fensive, also serves to render ineffectual a large 
 proportion of any poison that may be introduced 
 in watery solution. It is only after the soil has 
 become saturated with it to a certain (very vari- 
 able) extent, that a remaining portion can become 
 effective. Hence, the amount needed of any 
 insecticide, when used in the soil, is very much 
 greater than that which would be required if 
 water were to be applied to the insect directly. 
 A solution of carbolic acid, or a tea of the 
 "Persian insect powder," that would be instant 
 death to an insect sprinkled with it, becomes 
 inodorous and harmless when filtered through 
 a few inches of soil; and the same is more or 
 less true of all kinds of poisons. It is, there- 
 fore, clear that only such as combine cheapness 
 with a high degree of efficiency even in a very 
 dilute form, can be thought of for any practical 
 purposes. 
 
 The same relations that exist between earth 
 and substances dissolved in water apply more 
 or less to gases. Some of these that might 
 otherwise be available are so strongly absorbed 
 by the soil as to render any effort tb send them 
 to the depth required practically useless. This 
 is true, for instance, of the gas from burning 
 sulphur, the use of which against the phylloxera 
 is continually re-invented by persons unac- 
 quainted with the practical difficulties. 
 
 Of all insecticide vapors that are 
 promptly fatal to the insect, while com- 
 paratively innoccuous to the vine, and 
 at the same time but very slightly 
 absorbed by the soil, that of carbon bisulphide 
 stands foremost. Whether injected in substance 
 or introduced in solution in the form of ' 'sulpho- 
 carbonates," it is, beyond comparison, the most 
 thoroughly effectual at the least expense. That 
 it is difficult even through its agency to extir- 
 pate the insect completely in certain soils only 
 strengthens the argument against the possible 
 efficiency of methods lacking similar advan- 
 tages. 
 
 That vineyards consisting of valuable vari- 
 eties can be profitably maintained against the 
 phylloxera by the aid of carbon bisulphide 
 has been sufficiently proven. But to deliber- 
 ately establish new vineyards of vines unpro- 
 tected by grafting or resistant stock in infested 
 localities where flooding is not available, and 
 with the hope of holding the insect in abeyance 
 by insecticides, is from a financial point of view 
 almost inexcusable. For at least the same ex- 
 pense will then have to be incurred annually, 
 which, once incurred by grafting on resistant 
 stock, would make the vineyard safe for ever 
 after. 
 
 Failure of Cuttings . 
 
 Another complaint frequently brought to no- 
 tice is the failure of cuttings to root, and the 
 cause is inquired for. It is of course impossible 
 to answer such questions withdut an exact 
 knowledge of local conditions in each case, but 
 a few of the more prominent causes may here 
 be mentioned. The most frequent of all is 
 
 them inactive toward animal life for the time , probably the planting of long cuttings by means 
 
of the crowbar instead of the spade. Except in 
 the loosest soils, and with the greatest care, 
 this mode of planting usually leaves the end of 
 the cutting, if not bare, at least only in very 
 loose contact with the earth; so that rooting, 
 if accomplished at all, will have to take place 
 from the upper joints, and a decaying stump 
 remains below to infect the stock with fungus 
 growths. It were far better to use shorter 
 
 j cuttings and plant a smaller area, if need be. 
 
 | thoroughly well with the spade, pressing the 
 earth around the lower end of the cutting. 
 
 There are, however, tome valley and tench 
 soils, usually whitish and supposed to contain 
 alkali, in which the rooting of cuttings seems to 
 be exceptionally uncertain. The investigation 
 of a number of such cases is now in progress at 
 the agricultural laboratory, and further infor- 
 mation concerning such cases and local ities is 
 desirable. Also, in regard to the apparent in- 
 fluence of oak trees, living or dead, upon the 
 rooting of cuttings and the growth of vines. 
 
 E. W. HlLGABD. 
 
 Berkeley, January 17, 1884.