But "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure," and our best preventive is to plant none but healthy varieties. A grape, however good it may be in quality, is not fit for general cultivation if seriously affected with any of these diseases. Nothing can be more discouraging to the grape-grower than to see his vines one day rich in the promise of an abundant crop, and a few days afterwards see two-thirds or three-fourths swept away by disease. It is because I have so often felt this bitter disappointment, that I would warn my readers against planting varieties subject to them. I would save _them_ from the discouragement and bitter losses which I have experienced, when it was out of my power to prevent it. They _can_ prevent it, for the grape-growing of to-day is no longer the same uncertain occupation it was ten years ago. We of to-day have our choice of varieties not subject to disease; let us make it judiciously, and we may be sure of a paying crop every year. INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE GRAPE. The grape has many enemies of this kind, but if they are closely watched from the beginning their ravages are easily kept within proper bounds. The common gray cut-worm will often eat the young tender shoots of the vine, and draw them into the ground below. Wherever this is perceived the rascal can easily be found by digging for him under some of the loose clods of ground below the vine, and should be destroyed without mercy. [Illustration: FIG. 20. DELAWARE.--_Berries 1/2 diameter_.] Small worms, belonging to the family of leaf-folders, some of them whitish gray, some bluish green, will in spring make their webs among the young, downy leaves at the end of the shoots, eating the young bunches or buttons, and the leaves. These can be destroyed when summer pruning for the first time. Look close for them, as they are very small; yet very destructive if let alone. A small, gray beetle, of about the size and color of a hemp-seed, will often eat a hole into the bud, when it is just swelling, and thus destroy it. He is very shy, and will drop from the vine as soon as you come near him. It is a good plan to spread a newspaper under the vine, and then shake it, when he will drop on the paper and can be caught. Another bug, of about the size of a fly, gray, with round black specks, will sometimes pay us a visit. They will come in swarms, and eat the upper side of the leaves, leaving only the skeletons. They are very destructive, devouring every leaf, as far as they go; they can also be shaken off on a paper or sheet spread under the vine.