APPLE-BLOSSOM WEEVIL. 47 



pitchy-coloured patch, with a pale oblique stripe on it, and 

 two ochreous spots towards the tip. 



They pass the winter in chinks and crannies, or under loose 

 pieces of the bark, or under clods of earth or stones, and 

 come out when the flower buds are swelling in spring, when 

 they may be seen flying round the trees. 



Prevention and Remedies. — One good method of preven- 

 tion is to clear away from beneath trees which have been 

 infested rubbish of any kind, such as stones, clods of earth, 

 or bits of wood, which might serve as shelters to the beetles 

 during the winter. It is also desirable to remove rough and 

 useless bark, and to keep stem and branches in such a well- 

 tended condition that there may be as few winter lurking- 

 places for the beetles as possible in crannies or under broken 

 pieces. 



Where the bark is clean and in good order there will be 

 few hiding-places on the trees, and it would be of service 

 to syringe a mixture of any deterrent wash that would not 

 hurt the bark or leaves on to the trees when the beetles are 

 beginning to move about in spring. This would lodge in the 

 crannies where the weevils especially hide, and kill them if 

 they were there, or if they were moving about on the boughs 

 would clear many off, and for this purpose soft-soap appli- 

 cations, thick or thin as the case may be, would be very 

 desirable. The weevils fall to the ground on being alarmed, 

 and at egg-laying time many might be shaken down from the 

 trees on to cloths spread below, and thus got rid of at an 

 expense which would certainly be remunerative in garden 

 cultivation, and worth a trial for orchard ground in cases 

 where seriously bad attack was known to be going on. 



The plan of getting rid of the pest ''wholesale," as may be 

 done by shaking the infested buds down at the date when they 

 are so far destroyed as to fall to jarring might, I believe, be 

 followed up advantageously to a much greater extent than at 

 present. We have found by experiment that early in June 

 many of the infested buds may be shaken down, but the 

 chrysalids within, not having reached beetle state, can be 

 gathered up in the buds (if they are shaken down on cloths) 

 and destroyed. Where this plan has been carried out in 

 German experiment on low trees where the infested buds 

 could be picked off by hand and destroyed, it has been 

 found to answer excellently as a -prevention of infestation for 

 years. It is different in its action to the first-named plan, 

 as in this it is the weevils themselves which it is hoped to 

 get rid of, and thus lessen the amount of the then present 

 pests. 



