173 STATE BOAKD OF AGKICULTUKE. 



benefit in eating np the fallen fruit before the larvae have taken their de- 

 parture. 



The curculio is most successfully destroyed by the jarring process. This has 

 been so often described that it seems almost superfluous to repeat the descrip- 

 tion. At the risk of being tedious, however, I will give the outlines : As soon 

 as the blossoms begin to drop from the trees, a sheet is prepared of strong cloth 

 with an opening in one end reaching to the center. A small strip of wood is 

 then sewed to the whole end, and also to each jiart of the open end, for facility 

 in handling. Two persons will carry this from one tree to another, and, by a 

 sudden jar, all the curculios upon the tree are shaken upon the sheet, from 

 which they may be emptied into a pail, or caught and killed. This process 

 must be repeated two or three times a day while the curculio lasts. It is not 

 expensive, and never fails Avhen faithfully carried out. The curculio is also- 

 destroyed by placing chips under the trees about the time they begin to blossom. 

 They secrete themselves under these chips and are easily caught and killed. 



Squash bugs are also caught in the same manner. 



Cut-worms are killed by digging them from their hiding places ; also by plow- 

 ing the land in the fall, thus exposing them to the action of the frost, and tO' 

 the attacks of birds. 



Wire-worms are rendered less destructive by draining the land infested by 

 them and applying a good coating of lime. Mr. J. Strange, of Grand Ledge, 

 told me that a part of his corn-field, planted with a hand planter last spring, 

 was much less injured by the wire-worm than that planted with a common 

 hoe. 



All the knowledge we can get of the habits of these various insects, however, 

 is not sufficient to enable us always to cope with them. Some, indeed, seem 

 beyond the reach of any remedy. But nature has provided aid in every case. 

 There is a beautiful liarmony in her work when not interfered with. No one 

 animal is allowed to become very predominant at the expense of all the others. 

 If it is true that every plant has its enemy somewhere in the insect world, it is- 

 also true that every one of these has some parasite wliose duty it is to hold it in 

 check, or jirevent its undue increase. The greater the capacity of any species 

 for its multiplication, the greater the number of parasites there are that prey 

 upon it. 



It is said that the potato beetle has more than twenty species of parasites that 

 are bent upon its destruction. 



Before man had begun to clear off the forests and break up the soil, nature's 

 laws in regard to animal life were not interfered with. Each species held its 

 own. The amount of food for each remained practically the same year after 

 year. But man introduces new conditions. The growth of a particular kind 

 of plant food gives increased facilities for the multiplication of those species 

 that feed upon that plant. And as these multiply, tlie parasite whose duty it 

 is to hold them in check finds equal facilities for increase, so that in a few years 

 these balance each other. If there is any falling off in the production of the 

 given plant, there is a falling off in the number of its enemies, and the para- 

 site for the time being has the advantage. The enemy may indeed become nearly 

 or quite extinct, and with it also the given parasite in that locality. 



Should a frost, for instance, destroy every plum and cherry blossom in Mich- 

 igan, in any one year, the curculio would become nearly extinct for the time 

 being. AVe cannot conceive of its becoming Avholly so, however, for nature has^ 

 provided against such a contingency, and probably for the parasite also in the 



