Everybody talked at once and for a moment through the mêlée of sound Syrilla found it difficult to make sense of anything that was said.
Then she heard one word ‘pyrale’ and understood what had happened.
pyraleHer father had told her often about the menace that different moths were to the vines. He had explained to her about the cochylis or night moth, which was first found in Champagne in 1771.
cochylisThe cochylis strings threads of silk between the flowers and buds and late in the summer a second generation settles on the grapes, pricks them and causes them to turn mouldy.
cochylisThere was also the vex blanc du Hanneton or the white moth of the Cockchafer, which is a particular enemy of the young vine and the grafted cuttings, besides the red cochenille moth which lays its eggs in
