SUCCESSFUL, CURCULIO PRACTICE. 



of the plums until they fall to the ground, and, when they have attained the proper size, 

 they craM'l out of the plum, go into the earth, stay there their allotted time, twentj^-one 

 daj's, become perfect insects, come out of the earth, ascend the trees and perform the same 

 destructive operations that their predecessors did. Thus we perceived that several genera- 

 tions of that most destructive pest, to stone fruits generally, are produced in one season. 



Reflecting on these facts, I concluded that if we would destroy the insects in their em- 

 bryo state, we should preserve our stone fruits from their depredations. I made the ex- 

 periment; audits success exceeded my most sanguine expectation; for, instead of from 

 half a dozen to a dozen ripe plums, my usual annual crop from one tree, I had three mea- 

 sured (not estimated,) bushels, and I had that amount annually from one tree, until it 

 was destro3^ed by the disastrous fire that laid waste our village in the autumn of 1849. 



Early in the spring I remove all grass and weeds from the vicinity of the trees; I then 

 level and smooth the surface of the ground around the trees, and make it as hard as I can, 

 by beating it with the surface of a spade or hoe. It is then prepared for being easily swept 

 with a common broom. As soon as the young plums attain tlie size of a full grown cur- 

 rant, I shake the trees with some violence early in the morning, — early because the curcu- 

 lio is somewhat torpid then in consequence of the coldness of the night, and it is therefore 

 more easily detached from the tree; I then collect, by sweeping, everything that falls from 

 the tree, whether insects or plums, and commit the sweepings to the flames or throw them 

 into boiling water, and by that means destroy both the insects and their embryos. If the 

 jjunctured plums are thrown into cold water, the insects are hatched, about as readil)'', as 

 if they were suffered to lie on the ground, as I have witnessed in several instances. It is 

 necessarjr to continue this shaking and sweeping and burning dailj'', until the plums are 

 ripe. When the ground around the trees is properly prepared for sweeping, as above 

 mentioned, it requires less than five minutes each day to shake three trees, sweep, and 

 commit to the flames the collected sweepings. The time was measured, not estimated. 

 If the ground around the trees is closely covered with flat stones, bricks or boards, the 

 fruit is effectually protected from destruction by the curculio, unless that pest is suff'ered 

 to breed in the vicinity. The punctured plums should not be permitted to lie long on the 

 ground, lest the embryo insect should crawl out and go into the earth. The above state- 

 ments can be relied on; they are facts deduced from actual practice. I think we may 

 justly conclude from them, that a proper concert of action, on the part of the owners of 

 stone fruit trees, would effectually preserve our plums from the devastations of the curcu- 

 lio. 



The curculio sometimes feeds on ripe plums, but more commonly, I believe, on the suc- 

 culent and tender extremity of the branches near the terminal bud. It frequently bites 

 off" the terminal bud of the leading shoot. After it has fed, it conceals itself on the under 

 surface of a leaf, where it usually spends the day, unless the day is cloudy and dark. I 

 believe it moves about more during the night than during the day. I do not know what 

 becomes of it on the approach of cold weather. I think it hybernates in the earth. I have 

 seen it go into the crevices of the ground. 



I have made some efforts to discover the insect that causes the excrescences which de- 

 stroy so many plum and cherry trees, but, thus far, my efforts have been unavailing. I 

 have tried to hatch thelarvse in the house, but soon after the limbs, containing the excres- 

 cences, were severed from the tree, the larvae died. On exaihining these excrescences in a 

 green state, I found the texture of the saw-wood converted from a fibrous into a granular 

 state. When the excrescences become numerous on the limbs, the circulating fluid seems 

 to be so vitiated that it does not afford its wonted nutriment to the tree, or, what, perhaps. 



