PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 37 



LATEST METHODS WITH CURCULIO. 



" In this paper I shall aim to recount the important points gleaned the 

 past year in practical entomology as relating to horticulture. 



" Of first importance is our information regarding the plum curculio. 

 We now know that this insect prefers to work on the plum, and will attack 

 that fruit in preference to most other kinds, when possible. Yet in the 

 absence of the plum, it is ruinous to cherry, peacl% and apple. It needs 

 no argument to prove that the cherry and peach are almost, if not quite, 

 valueless when wormy. We now know that the attack of the curculio is hardly 

 less ruinous to the apple. While in most cases the grub or curculio larva 

 does not develop — it does mature, sometimes, even in the apple — yet the 

 apple when badly stung, becomes stunted, gnarled, and so badly deformed 

 that it is entirely worthless. For several years Wisconsin has complained 

 of this gnarly fruit. In these regions of severe attack the apple is the 

 exclusive fruit, and hence the serious invasion of this pest. I find in Mich- 

 igan, where apples are grown to the exclusion of plums, that the fruit in 

 many cases is sufPering severely from this curculio. The practical con- 

 clusion from these facts is that it will pay to grow plums in the apple 

 orchard, to lure the curculio from the apple and secure fair, marketable 

 fruit. 



TO FIGHT THE CURCULIO. 



"The next question is, shall we leave the plums to the curculio, and 

 simply raise this fruit to secure fine apples? By all means we should fight 

 the curculio and save the fruit. First, in so doing, we constantly lessen 

 the ranks of the enemy; and, again, we secure, at comparative little labor 

 and expense, a fine crop of plums, which will prove as profitable as any 

 product of the orchard. 



"Of course I need not describe the old process — the jarring method — of 

 catching and destroying the curculio. The advantages of that method are 

 its entire efiicacy when thoroughly practiced, and the entire destruction of 

 the insects trapped. The only objections, so far as I know, are the time 

 required and the danger of injuring the trees. 



" The new methods found successful in combating this insect are the 



three following, the first two of which I have 

 used with marked success : Spraying with Lon- 

 don jjurple, dusting with carbolated plaster, and 

 spraying with strong lime water. The expense 

 of these remedies is about the same. If the first 

 kills the insects and the latter two simply drive 

 themto some other feeding-ground, then in this 

 respect the first should be greatly preferred. 

 The first, in that it employs a virulent poison, 

 is somewhat objectionable; for, though with 

 caution there is no danger, there are always 

 a. larva; 6, papa; e, beetie,'Iii magni- ^areless people, and SO will always be accidents 

 fied; d, pinm, showing sting and beetle, where poisonous articles are in general use. 



" In previous years I have sprayed with arsenites, in hope to secure 

 against attack by the curculio, yet never with much satisfaction. In some 

 cases I thought I saw some benefit, yet in others I saw none at all, and so 



