640 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



hay or loose cloth, to entice the larvse to spin their cocoons in 

 them, and the feeding of fallen fruit to stock. A serious objection 

 to these methods lay in the fact that the worms were only de- 

 stroyed after they had done their injury. But now, thanks to the 

 spraying machine, the fruit-grower can place in the calyx ends of 

 the young apples a few particles of poison, which as a rule will 

 kill the newly hatched worms before they enter the fruit. For 

 this purpose three or four ounces of London purple or Paris green 

 are thoroughly mixed with a barrel of water. The apple trees 

 are sprayed with this mixture just after the blossom petals have 

 fallen off. The poison particles are thus distributed over the tree 

 in a fine mist, and when the water in which they are suspended 

 (not dissolved) evaporates, they are left high and dry upon the 

 leaves and fruit, there to remain a menace to insect enemies for 

 several weeks. In the course of time the combined action of rain 



srpjj - -; .-;.^ v 



~^n 



Fig. 2. — Plum Curculio : a, larva ; b, pxipa ; 

 c, beetle — magnified ; <f, plum showing 

 crescent mark. (After Kiley.) 



Fig. 3. — Apple injured by Curculio. 



and dew, wind and sunshine dissipate their poisonous properties. 

 By thus destroying the first brood of worms one is saved the 

 trouble of fighting the second brood. 



For many years it has been very difficult to produce plums 

 and other stone fruits on account of the injuries of the plum cur- 

 culio. The adult of this species is a small, hard-shelled beetle 

 (Fig. 2, c), which appears in the orchard early in spring, and feeds 

 upon the foliage and flowers until the fruit is well formed. It 

 then attacks the young plums, gnawing at them to satisfy its 

 hunger, and cutting crescent-shaped holes (d) in the skin for pur- 

 poses of oviposition. The eggs hatch into minute grubs that feed 

 upon the pulp for a few weeks, ruining the plums and causing 

 them to fall to the ground. The grubs (a) then leave the fallen 

 fruit, enter the soil a short distance, change to pupae, and later 

 again change to adult beetles. There is but one brood each season, 

 the insects wintering over mostly as beetles. 



Besides stone fruits this insect attacks apples and pears, caus- 



