EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 193 



curculio an excellent friend, and say they would be very loath to part with 

 his services. 



Once more, the fact that the curculio is ever on hand, always to be 

 counted on, makes it necessary to forego the luxury of plums, or to fight 

 the curculio. But most orchardists, either through ignorance or neglect, 

 will not fight the insects, so the fruit will be scarce, and the price high. 

 Thus our best plum-growers say that the curculio advances the price of 

 plums far in excess of the expense of so fighting him as to secure a crop of 

 finest fruit. 



If then, by growing plums abundantly, we may have our cherries, apples, 

 etc., and by aid of the curculio may thin our plum crop to the advantage 

 of both tree and fruit, and can also receive a far higher price in the market 

 for our plums — much more than enough to pay the expense of fighting the 

 insect — then surely we need not make wry faces, exclusively at least, as we 

 contemplate the character and work of the plum curculio. 



FIGHTING THE INSECT. 



As the curculio comes forth in spring, it must be some distance from 

 the fruit that is likely to become victim to its ravages. Through some 

 sense, probably smell, it is attracted to the fruit. Hence the remedy sug- 

 gested and practiced by Mr. J. N. Stearns of Kalamazoo, Michigan, to mix 

 one pint of strong crude carbolic acid with fifty pounds of newly slaked 

 lime, and throw this into the trees in the early morning while the dew is 

 still on. The theory is that the strong odor will disguise the trees so the 

 curculio will not find them, or else is so repugnant to the weevils that 

 they will give them the go-by. 



Two years ago I tried this remedy with seeming success. One year ago, 

 and this year, I tried it most thoroughly, and with no success at all. Trees 

 heavily powdered, before the curculio commenced their attack, had in a 

 week not a single unstung plum, though there had been no rain in the 

 interim. The trees were small, so though they were in full bearing the 

 plums were not very numerous. I consider these tests crucial. While I 

 would not say that this treatment might not sometimes do good, and 

 possibly save a crop, I do say emphatically that it is not reliable, and can 

 not be depended on to save our plums. I am sure that I applied this 

 material more thoroughly than most growers would do. 



SPEAYING WITH THE ARSENITES. 



After proving, ten years ago, that spraying with London purple and 

 Paris green was a most satisfactory remedy against the codlin moth, I 

 commenced at once to test the virtues of the same application for the 

 curculio. I never even seemed to meet with any success till 1888, when I 

 thought we received signal benefit from our spraying with the arsenites. 

 As we have proved, by putting curculio in bottles with sprayed leaves, 

 that they may be and are poisoned by such treatment, I was hopeful, 

 almost pursuaded, that my previous experiments had not been sufficiently 

 thorough ; that the smooth skin of the plum would not hold the poison as 

 would the apple, and even a passing shower would or might remove it. 



Thus, last year and this, I determined to test the matter most 

 thoroughly. Trees were very thoroughly sprayed, at intervals of ten days, 

 as many as five times, and after each rain, and yet in several cases every 



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