372 TIIE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



•weakened and dif ad by this treatment falls from the tree. The grub, which is a small, 



yellowish, footless, irhite maggot, then leaves the fallen fruit, enter* the earth, changes into 

 a papa, and in the first brood comes to the surface ■gain, in about three weeks, m ■ perfect 

 Weevil, to propagate it- species anil destroy more fruit. It has not \ at 1 sen - 1 * - • • i • 1 1- ■ 1 whether 

 the latest generation of the weevil remains in the ground all winter in the grab, or in the 

 pupa state. Dr. E. Sanborn, of Andover, M .i--a •■lm-i-tt-, as-erts. however, that the grabs, 

 after ha\ ing entered the earth, return to the surface in about six weeks as perfect weei il-, which 

 nui-t remain hidden in crevices until spring. The most popular opinion i- that they remain 

 in the larva or papa state. The worm or grub is often found in the knots or B 0008 



which disfigure and destroy plum-trees, and has been wrongfully accused of being tl 

 of these swellings; but it is highly probable thai the weevil, finding in the young knots an 

 acid somewhat similar to that of the unripe fruit, merely deposits its eggs therein as the 

 nearest substitute for the real plum. 



'•Some of the remedies recommended for preventing the ravages of these insects are 

 absurd. Bach as tying cotton round the tree- in order to prevent them from ascending, when 

 it is known that they are furnished with wings, and fly from tree to tree with the greatest 

 ease. Among the remedies at present in use, one is to cover the fruit with a coating of 

 whitewash, mixed with a little glue, applied by means of a syringe; another is to spread a 

 sheet upon the ground under the tree, and then jar the principal branches suddenly with a 

 mallet covered with cloth, so as not to bruise the bark, when the perfect insects will fall 

 into the Bheet and feign death, and may be gathered and destroyed. Hogs are - onetimes 

 turned into plum-orchards, wdiere, by eating the fallen and diseased fruit, they materially 

 lessen the evil. Coops of chickens are placed under the trees, and the branches often shaken; 

 the insects Ball, ami are eagerly seized and devoured. All fallen fruit should be gathered up 

 several times in the course of the season and burned, or given to hogs, or destroyed in some 

 Other way. By so doing, thousands of the grubs which have not yet left the plums are 

 I ; hut. as yet, no thoroughly practical remedy has been made public, and the above 

 are merely mentioned as being useful in small gardens containing only a few trees." 



Camphor vs. Pea-Bags. 



A oobj i ipomom of the " Horticulturist" says: 



• I - ago, last spring, nay seed-peas were more than half destroyed by bugs, the 



large-t and best Tarietiea being most injured. The summer following, I had boxes male. 

 one for each variety, with a cover; and when the peas were gathered, I put into each box 

 with two quarts of peas, from six to eight bits of gum-camphor the size of ■ large pea) an l 

 mixed them together, and elosed the box. The next spring there was not a pea injured. I 

 have pursued the same course every year since, and have not had one pes affected by 

 bugs." 



The Wheat-Weevil. 



recent meeting of the N. V. State Agricultural Society, the following remarks relative 

 to the wheat-weevil, were made by Dr. Fitch, of N. Y. : — 



It appears thai this inssei has long i d known in England, bul i j sol found in France. It 



app thai thej should have found their way across the Atlantic, and do1 across the 



oneL They were found in Vermont in lsjn. it has since extended, with the strides of a 

 the oountry. Last year it reached Indiana, and did gr a f t iE""wg * to. tht wht al 

 It i- estimated thai the injury dons the wheal crop in New Fork state the past jt 



at $2.18 per bushel, exceed- fifteen million doll 



lOUbl when we know the babitS, etc. of the wheat-Weevil, we shall he able !•■ destroy it. 



The in-,-, t depositi it- egg- the last of May. Jusl before harvest some of the Insects leave 



the | ,r- oi Wheal and descend into the ground. The others remain in the grain ami may bo 



easily d< If we could discover «omc means of destroying those which are in the 



ground, we might hope soon to itaj the ravages of this Ineont in Great Britain the wle 

 weevil i- kept in check by a parasitic insect. This parasite is not found in this country. We 



