48 



THE GARDE NEB'S MONTHLY 



[February, 



THAT LITTLE TURK. 



BY GEN. W. H. NOBLE, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 



How got our curculio this heathenish name ? 

 Comes it of that wreck and waste marking 

 alike the bivouac of this Little and the Grand 

 Turk ? Most likely it was hinted by that Moslem 

 signet, the little crescent lip, gashed by his snout 

 upon our fruit. It is there he nests the tiny worm 

 that eats into its heart. 



Not the plum alone suffers from this foe. The 

 grape and the apricot, and many think the apple, 

 pear and cherry show his marks. The question 

 is, how to defend our fruits against his raids. 

 Plainly, we must fight the little rascal, by tactics 

 and strategy fitted to his heathenish ways. His 

 ■weakness then shall be our strength. 



I have no fiaith in most of the "sure cures." 

 Hens and hogs in the plum yard, traps and entan- 

 glements for his footsteps, he laughs to scorn. 

 Stenches viler than Chinese stinkpots are his 

 joy. Hunting him in the cool of the morning, 

 about the time of the " early bird," while our 

 little Turk naps late, under chips and stones and 

 rubbish, is a waste of time and a delusion. 

 Early risers are not very plenty. Besides, such 

 fuss will only cut off some outlying posts of a 

 foe, whose hosts swarm among our neighbors. 



The truth is, appearances deceive us. A de- 

 vice this year seems to give a full crop, which 

 the next don't work worth a cent. A few years 

 since, a friend of mine thought he had saved his 

 crop, by dusting sulphur on blossoms, leaves and 

 fruit. He made sure, and went straight for that 

 grand prize which somebody out West offered. 

 But by the next year the little Tin-k had got a 

 liking for sulphur, and did'nt care a snap for the 

 cure. For reasons past finding out by our phil- 

 osophy, one year, a tree matures a crop, every 

 fruit on which the next, drops stung by the cur- 

 culio. This season our trees may be loaded to 

 breaking, while our neighbor's not a hundred 

 yards off, cannot show a plum. Such results and 

 their seeming cures and causes, are often illogi- 

 cally linked. No remedy deserves our faith, 

 which will not, year by year, fulfill with a crop 

 the promise of the bloom. 



Now the curculio can fly. Every remedy must 

 count on this. If we kill them, our noighl)ors 

 who don't, can furnish plenty of recruits. But 

 our little Turk has a weak spot in his mental 

 make-up. Like Major Bagstock, he thinks he is 

 " cunning and deevlish sly." Besides he is more 

 timid than a hare. He is a coward, and plays 

 possum. That smart rap, by which EUwanger 



& Barry, have for so many years saved their 

 plums, startles him. At the first blow he 

 gathers his feet and snout and body into a ball, 

 at the next he tumbles to the ground for dead. 

 There the wide inverted umbrella or a sheet, 

 gathers him for a scald or a scorch, or some 

 lively fowl devours him. 



Now this timidity of the little Turk, and some 

 observation of his ways and of some results, lead 

 me to think, that a very slight jar or rap upon 

 the tree, kept up through the season of fruiting, 

 will put a stop to our curculio's work. For years 

 my crop has never failed, nor do I have any 

 stung fruit, on trees trained on my barn. There- 

 in some years were stabled horses, &c. On 

 others only emptiness, yet each year alike, 

 they bore. Why this, unless " the rapping and 

 the tapping " of the twigs, and the rustling of the 

 leaves against the barn, startled the timid crea- 

 tures with some sense of danger. You cannot of 

 course train all plum trees on buildings, but you 

 can run, from tree to tree, slight iron rods or 

 stout wires fastened thereto, and by striking them 

 on end with a steady and slight automatic blow, 

 send through all the needed jar or shock. Some 

 little wind-mill tapper, some strong coiled spring, 

 or other slight propulsive force, perhaps would 

 do the work. A trellis of iron posts and wires, 

 vibrating under a gentle blow, would do well for 

 the grape or the plum. 



A few years since, some one took out a patent 

 for doing this work by an automatic machine. 

 Right away there came to him from far and near 

 a demand therefor. He only thought of its use 

 to save the plums. But to his great surprise, the 

 loudest call came from Delaware, where the cur- 

 culio sadly trespassed on the grapes. The pro- 

 blem has been, to get a cheap machine, by 

 wound up weight, or spring compressed, or other 

 stored power, to run twelve hours; often and 

 gently rapping on some pin or rod fastened to 

 the trees. No cheap machine could be made, to 

 give more than a gentle rap every few seconds 

 through that time. The slight expenditure of 

 power, in a smart rap, often repeated during 

 twelve hours, counts up heavy in the pounds. 

 The storing of the needed force would call for 

 stronger and more costly and bulky machinery 

 than would pay. If anybody can get up one 

 cheap and durable, costing to buyers not more 

 than I."), he had best hunt up the patentee; there is 

 money in it, if not, as Col. Sellers has it, millions. 

 Meanwhile the plan of EUwanger & Barry will 

 hold the front as the best and cheapest remedy out. 



