1903 The Flowing Bowl by Edward Spencer

74 THE FLOWING BOWL little monster made its first appearance on this side in the year 1863. Striking an attitude, with the exclamation, " Hallo! here's a vine, let's have the first suck," the phylloxera com menced a long starring engagement (to borrow another metaphor from the theatres), which in another fifteen years' time had developed into an enormous success, as far as the vastatrix was concerned. Naturally, it is the she-phylly who does the harm. From August to October Madam lays her little eggs on the vine-leaves, beneath the surface. The develop late in autumn into males and females, who migrate to the stem of the vine. There each bold, bad female lays an egg, under the bark. This egg lies dormant, after the manner of pesky little insect-nuisances, through the winter, and develops in April or May into a wingless, voracious, merciless little "vine- louse," with power to add to its number. " The rest," as the mechanical engineers tell us, just before our brains go, "is easy." The vine- louse attacks the roots, without waiting, the silly idiot, for the grapes to ripen, the vine dies, and the potato reigns in its stead. Without burning the plant, or drowning it, it is impossible to eradi cate the phylloxera, without spending three times as much cash, in chemicals, as the vine is worth. This is the true story of France's great trouble. Beetroot-spirit is also largely used in making cognac, the coarse spirit being flavoured with oenanthic aether, cognac-oil (made from palm- oil) and—other things. Also of late years the French have discovered that almost as good wine can be made from raisins as from the uncooked

H U