NEW REMEDY FOR THE CURCULIO. 



567 



through the season, unless the earth is dis- 

 turbed. I produced ten of the perfect in- 

 sects, which are little black beetles, from 

 the larva, and fed them until the 1st Jan- 

 uary, with apple. The larvae which were 

 in the fruit, were placed upon the surface 

 of earth in a glass vessel, and after eating 

 the apple for three weeks, they left the fruit 

 and bored into the earth to the depth of 

 three or four inches, and then formed a lit- 

 tle home, where they cast their skin, and 

 in about four weeks the perfect beetle was 

 formed. They lay dormant in this state un- 

 til I disturbed them ; some I took from the 

 earth the first of August, and others on the 

 first of October. 



The mechanical performance of this little 

 beetle should not pass without notice. In 

 making her nest and laying her eggs, in 

 the fruit, she exhibits an instinct that is 

 truly wonderful. With her snout she punc- 

 tures the fruit, in the shape of a semi-cir- 

 cle, to the depth of one-tenth of an inch, 

 upon an angle of about forty-five degrees, 

 and then makes a horizontal puncture di- 

 rectly under the skin, to the extent of one- 

 tenth of an inch ; she then turns round and 

 deposits her egg at the entrance of the hor- 

 izontal puncture ; after which, she again 

 turns round, and, with her proboscis, pushes 

 home the egg to the bottom of the last punc- 

 ture ; she then places her proboscis into the 

 first puncture, and presses the flesh of the 

 plum against the skin, and holds it in this 

 position about ten minutes, until the flesh 

 and skin are knit together, for the purpose, 

 as I suppose, of preventing the egg from fall- 

 ing out, and also to protect it from a minute 

 spider. The semi-circular cut is made to 

 provide for contraction, as, if made straight, 

 the skin would split, and the egg roll 

 out. 



The curculio flies a great distance, and 

 their numbers are immense where there 

 are plenty of fruit trees. It is evident, 

 unless some means are taken to diminish 

 them, that they will eventually take all the 

 fruit. I know of no article that will scent 

 them off. I placed a bottle of spirits of tar 

 directly under three plums, and in a few 

 days found the fatal punctures upon them. 

 The egg hatches in from five to ten days, 

 and fruit may be saved by taking out the 

 egg. But the application of whitewash, 



by syringing the fruit, I consider the most 

 practicable, unless the experiment I am 

 now trying answers the purpose, of syring- 

 ing the limbs before the buds break. To 

 make the wash stick to the fruit or tree, 

 I put in a little glue. 



The other insect to which I allude is the 

 Codling Moth. This little moth deposits 

 her egg in the eye of the apple. They 

 commenced this year about the 1st of June, 

 and were so destructive on my trees as to 

 take about all the curculio spared, and 

 many of the Bartlett and Passe Colmar 

 Pears. 



They are on all the season, or until the 

 middle of September; there are two or 

 three crops of them. I produced them from 

 the egg in about five weeks ; they were 

 two weeks eating before they were ready 

 to go into the chrysalis state, and three 

 weeks before the perfect moth appeared ; 

 the} r are a small grey moth, with a distinct 

 mark upon the hind part of the wings, of a 

 brown color, edged with copper ; they do 

 not extend their wings more than seven- 

 eighths of an inch ; they were very lively at 

 night and entirely at rest in the day-time, 

 from which I infer that they fly only at 

 night. I have never been able to find 

 one upon the trees. After the eggs are 

 hatched the worms eat to the centre of the 

 apple and out at the side, and cause the 

 worm-falls or Moth-falls. I saved a num- 

 ber of apples by placing a thin plate of 

 bees-wax over the eye. 



But the plan for practicable purposes, is 

 to syringe the fruit with whitewash ; this 

 will fill the eye and thus prevent the moth 

 from laying her egg. I am happy to state 

 that I discovered a trap for the larva? of 

 this insect, by which an orchard can be 

 cleared of them with but little labor. No- 

 ticing two or three of the larva; creeping 

 upon a piece of cotton cloth which was 

 thrown into the crotch of an apple tree, my 

 curiosity led to further examination, and to 

 my surprise and pleasure, I found thirty of 

 the larva; in their silken homes, going 

 through their chrysalis state; they knit the 

 folds of cloth together, with silken tics, and 

 there quietly change from the loathed worm 

 to the perfect insect, which is, perhaps, un- 

 der a microscope, as beautiful as any pro- 

 duction of the insect tribe. I again placed 



