256 Nebraska State Horticultural Society. 



in inch long by one-half as wide. Immediately after hatf.hJiig 

 which requires four days, the larva burrows toward the core of the 

 apple, producing much reddish excrement, and after about three weeks 

 becomes fully grown. It is then a soft, whitish, legless grub about 

 one-half an inch long, with a curved and humpbacked, much wrinkled, 

 bristleless body, very different from the larva of the plum curculio. 

 The larva of the apple curculio does not cause the apple to fall, but ;'ll 

 the metamorphoses are carried on wathin the fruit, and after a final 

 moult the pupa state is assumed. A w-eek spent in this condition 

 brings on the adult beetle which cuts a large hole and makes its way 

 out, so that the entire period from egg to adult beetle averages about 

 thirty-two days. The adults begin to appear early in July and continue 

 coming out throughout August. Unlike the plum curculio the adults 

 of the new brood in this species after emergence do not prove in- 

 jurious to the fruit by making numerous feeding punctures, but rather 

 tend to immediately seek out hibernating quarters, and remain hidden 

 until the next May. 



REMEDIES FOR CURCULIO INJURY. 



The first thing the horticulturalist who would fight the curculio 

 must do is to place his orchard in a state of thorough cultivation, 

 tor without such a condition it is practically useless for him to pro- 

 •ceed. In all of the several badly infested orchards examined by the 

 writer while investigating this pest, there was a heavy undergrowth 

 of grass and weeds, and, in some, even stacks of dead brush and piles 

 •of leaves and other rubbish. Such conditions form ideal hibernating 

 ■quarters for the curculios, enable them to hide from birds and other 

 predaceous insects which prey upon them, protect the fallen apples 

 from the sun and other influences which might destroy the developing 

 larvae, and render quite impossible the application of the various 

 cultural remedies to be suggested directly. All superfluous under- 

 growth should be removed, the soil disked and pulverized, and all 

 limbs which would hinder the passage of machinery or prevent the 

 sunlight from reaching the giound between the trees should be 

 pruned. All this is but merely putting the orchard into the condition 

 it should be in anyway for the best health of the trees. This accom- 

 plished, the application of our most efficacious remedy is made possible, 

 namely the 



1. Cultivation of the Surface Soil. We have just seen that in 

 the life circle of the plum curculio a considerable portion of it.s life 

 is spent underground after the falling of the fruit. The average 



