No. 6. ■ DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 403 



Treatment. 



No one method of treatment is sufficient for this pest, but if the 

 three given below be practiced, much loss will be prevented. 



1. It has already been stated that in the spring the adult curculios 

 feed on the young leaves until the plums have begun to grow. This 

 fact may be taken advantage of by spraying the trees with Paris 

 green, or better, with arsenate of lead just before the blossoms open, 

 and repeating this treatment as soon as the blossoms have fallen. 

 Do not spray while the trees are in blossom. 



2. The adult curculios during the time they are feeding and laying 

 their eggs, are sluggish mornings and evenings, though they will fly 

 freely during the heat of the day and also on warm nights. This 

 liabit is successfully utilized by plum raisers who spread out sheets 

 under the trees early in the mornings and then jar the trees by strik- 

 ing the trunks with a heavy mallet. The curculios fall onto the 

 sheets and are gathered and destroyed. An improvement on this is 

 to stretch canvas over a frame having sloping sides, and at the center 

 oj)ening into a tin can containing a little kerosene. A slit from the 

 juiddle of one side to the center is not covered by the canvas but is 

 left open so that the trunk of the tree may pass in through this to the 

 center of the frame. A strip of canvas sewed to one side of the slit 

 is then turned over to cover it and the canvas completely covers the 

 ground under the tree. Such a frame mounted on a wheelbarrow 

 can be conveniently and rapidly used and the curculios which fall 

 upon the canvas when the trees are jarred, roll down the sloping sides 

 of the frame and into the can of kerosene in the center. Plum or- 

 chards of hundreds of trees are everv vear treated in this wav with 

 great success, the trees being jarred every other morning. 



3. The above methods will prevent multitudes of the curculios 

 from laying a part or even any of their eggs, but it is equally im- 

 portant to destroy as many as possible of the grubs coming from 

 eggs which have been laid. As a large proportion of the plums 

 which have been "stung" by the curculios drop early, and as these 

 grubs are readily eaten by fowls, it is advisable to let poultry and 

 also hogs run freely in the orchards, or if this is not practicable, to 

 gather the fallen plums and destroy them twice a day if possible, 

 beginning about a week after the second spraying. 



