THE CRUSADE AGAINST THE GRAND TURK. 



ing the torm above stated, the curculio has multiplied with fearful rapidity, 

 vicinity. A few years since, when trees of bearing size, were not so numerous by many 

 hundreds, as at present, plums and cherries Avere seen in abundance, in our markets; lat- 

 terly, they may be seen in abundance, when one-third grown, under the trees. 



The curculio flies faster and farther, than most writers suppose it does. I have worried 

 a specimen with lime, salt, &c., and with a splinter of wood, until the outside shell has 

 opened up the center of the back, and a pair of wings projected seemingly from behind, 

 very like the wings of the insect known by the common name " lady-bird," or lady-bug. 

 In tlic spring of 184(3, I planted an orchard and garden, with nearly one thousand fruit 

 trees and shrubs, in a situation where there are no other fruit trees nearer than an eighth of a 

 mile; yet, the unmistakable crescent-shaped punctures, were visible the same season on 

 every stone fruit that set — on the pear, and to my astonishment, on the grape, and the 

 gooseberry. I have also seen it on large sized currrants. It does no injury, however, to 

 the last named fruits. 



The curculio does but little damage Avhen plenty of poultry is kept in the fruit garden. 



Strolling one day, on the grounds of a slovenly neighbor, I was delighted with the sight 

 of twenty or thirty trees of the common horse plum, loaded with perfect fruit. The trees 

 standing in sod — unsightly objects — pigs and chickens the only gardeners. I have noticed 

 in several gardens, where poultry is kept, the result to be satisfactory. 



The curculio is most active about night, and may be seen, as busy as bees, in the early 

 evening — even in places where it is difficult to find a specimen in the daylight. 



I have never battled the curculio with success. They are too numerous for me; they can 

 reinforce faster than I can kill. I wi.sh it were possible to annihilate them. 



I have just put heaps of manure under the trees, but it does not hinder them. I have 

 hung vials of sweetened water in the trees, and caught thousands of flies and moths, of 

 various kinds, but the " turk" will not enter. I have tried tubs, and a light, at night — 

 the invitation was slighted. I have thrown slaked lime over the trees, and on the fruit; 

 the curculio has poked it away with perfect ease. Being determined, last season, to se- 

 cure a few apricots, I wliite-washed them, and, (can you believe it,) the wretches stood on 

 the stalks, and effected their work of destruction. I have tried, early in the season, to cut out 

 the eggs — if I cut out one in the morning, there would be two or three in an excellent con- 

 dition to be operated upon in the evening, on the same fruit. From thirty nectarine trees, 

 I had but three nectarines, last season; those were on a small tree under which a few 

 fowls were regularly fed. 



I have some faith in paving, although I have not tried it. In a back yard in Sixth- 

 street, Troy, there are four stunted, little, knotty plum trees, bearing an inferior Avhite 

 plum. The lady of the house told me those trees produced more than three bushels of 

 plums, free from the marks of any insect. 



The yard is closely paved all over with bricks. In other parts of the city, where 

 branches over-hang the public pavements, the fruit hung on till the boys knocked it off". 

 I do not believe a busliel of perfect plums were produced in either of the excellent gar- 

 dens on ]\Iount Ida, in 1850. In this I may be mistaken, as I judge entirely from the ap- 

 pearance of the trees in July; there are no pavements in those gardens. From more than 

 fifty plum trees in my own garden, but one plum ripened. From a hundred cherry trees, 

 but three or four cherries. There was no neglect on my part. The trees were jarred, and 

 the curculios picked up and destroyed, as long as a perfect fruit was visible. Aga 

 question forces itself— What is the curculio for? I cannot tell, unless to feed the 



