THE CURCULIO. 



monaria Virginica), and several otliei' plants, have also the name of '^ Forget-me- 

 not" applied to them. In ordering the plant of their nurserymen, our lady friends 

 should also note its botanical name. P. 



THE CURCULIO. 



BY HENRY CROFT, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE TORONTO HORT. SOCIETY, TORONTO, C. W. 



I NOTICE in your June number, just received, a short letter from Mr. Bacon on the 

 subject of the Curculio, and a proposition to employ sulphureted water, such as that 

 of Avon for syringing the Plum trees ; and it may not perhaps be altogether unin- 

 teresting to you to know that a series of experiments are being made on this subject 

 by a few amateurs of this city. 



Some years ago in a paper published in the Canadian Agriculturist, I endeavored 

 to account for the supposed efficacy of the lime and sulphur wash by the formation 

 of a chemical compound — the sulphide of calcium, its gradual decomposition on 

 exposure to the air, and slow evolution of sulphureted hydrogen, a gas which is 

 well known to be highly destructive to animal life. My experiments on this 

 l^reservative were quite unsuccessful, and I was equally unfortunate in driving away 

 the " Turk " by means of assafcetida, a substance which you will allow is nearly 

 unsurpassed as to odor. 



Last year a lady amateur of this town tried, at the suggestion of a chemical 

 friend, the action of sulphureted hydrogen, as evolved from the proper mixture, 

 and subsequently of a peculiar compound well known to chemists — the hydrosul- 

 phide of ammonium. The trees thus treated were loaded with fruit, those unpro- 

 tected had none ! 



This year two or three persons are trying a quantity of the hydrosulphide, and as 

 soon as the fruit is thoroughly out of danger, I will send you the results. In my 

 garden I am trying it on several trees, leaving others unprotected. A few ounce 

 phials are half filled with the liquid hydi'osulphide, diluted with about two parts of 

 water; every three or four days I add a little more of the liquid, or as often as its 

 odor begins to diminish. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the delicious scent 

 of the garden is by no means improved by the process. 



It is almost too soon to say any thing with regard to the result of my own 

 experiments, but I may state that on several fine Plum trees, on which last year I 

 had to search for a quarter of an hour in order to find an unbitten Plum, I have 

 now to look almost as long to find a bitten one. On a " Lawrence " the result has 

 not been so favorable, about one-fifth or less being bitten ; last year I had none on 

 this tree. 



At the end of the season I shall endeavor to obtain the experience of the different 

 amateurs who are now trying the experiment, and should you think it desirable, will 

 forward to you the results. 



The substance employed could be made at a very small price, if there should arise 

 any demand for it. At present chemists generally make it for themselves. 



