The Quince Curculio. 389 



Applications to the soil. — We doubt if the application of any sub- 

 stance to the soil, in practicable quantities, would destroy enough 

 grubs to pay for the trouble of applying it. 



Hogs in the orchard. — In one quince orchard, Mr. R. A, Barnes, of 

 Lockport, N. Y., ''allowed hogs to run from early in the spring until 

 just before time to gather the fruit, when, because they would reach 

 up and pick the fruit, they were excluded for a time ; " small grain was 

 from time to time scattered on the ground to induce more thorough 

 ** rooting " by the hogs. From this orchard he gathered his finest 

 fruit. Either the orchard was not badly infested by the insect, or else 

 the hogs found most of the grubs in the spring before they transformed 

 into the beetles. 



Jarring ffiethod. — Like the plum curculio, this quince curculio 

 quickly drops to the ground when the tree is jarred, not shaken. This 

 habit of the insect seems to be its most vulnerable point; and it is 

 undoubtedly the point against which the most successful attacks can, 

 with our present knowledge, be made by quince growers. The process 

 of jarring is very simple and is too familiar to need description here. 

 Nearly every fruit grower who practices it has his favorite padded 

 " jarring-pole " and there are several kinds of receptacles in use for 

 catching the curculios when they drop. These " curcuho-catchers " 

 vary in design from a simple sheet of cloth stretched on a wooden 

 frame (to be held by the operator with the aid of straps over the 

 shoulders or to be simply laid on the ground) to elaborate wheel- 

 barrow-like machines carrying a canvas arranged like an inverted 

 umbrella, as shown in figure 195. 



It is a much more difficult matter to jar quince trees than it is plum 

 trees, on account of their great difference in habit of growth. The 

 main branches of the quince often start from very near the ground, 

 thus making the trees so low that it would be impossible to work one 

 of the ordinary " wheelbarrow catchers " under them. This compels 

 one to use simple sheets or do as one large grower did, prune up the 

 trees and have a cart built especially low. Figure 195 is from a 

 photograph taken in this orchard and shows this low form of " cur- 

 culio-catcher " built to order for lighting this pest. It was this orchard 

 which the owners thought seriously of uprooting (as mentioned above 

 under spraying) on account of this curculio, but thorough work with 

 these jarring machines for a few years has made it a very profitable 



