240 FRUIT INSECTS 



Treatment. 



The quince curculio is a difficult insect to control. It passes 

 the winter as a grub in the soil, and therefore the destruction 

 of hibernating quarters as advised for the plum and apple 

 curculios would be of no avail. Clean cultivation has not given 

 the expected results in the destruction of the grubs, because 

 they are more active than those of the other species and are 

 able to burrow back into the soil and reconstruct their cells 

 after having been disturbed. Shallow repeated cultivation 

 at the time the helpless pupae are in their cells would probably 

 kill many, but enough escape to make the operation of doubtful 

 value. The destruction of windfalls would reach only a small 

 proportion of the grubs, since most of the infested quinces do 

 not drop, but remain on the tree until after the grubs have be- 

 come full-grown and emerged. Some commercial growers have 

 had good success in reducing the amount of infestation by pick- 

 ing off and destroying all infested fruit about a month before 

 picking time thus leaving on the trees only first and second 

 class quinces. 



Catching the beetles by jarring them on to sheets or curculio 

 catchers is a rather expensive and laborious operation, but has 

 been profitably practiced by extensive growers in western 

 New York. The curculio catcher as used in New York is a 

 large funnel-shaped frame covered with canvas and mounted 

 on a two-wheeled wheelbarrow. In front is a narrow opening 

 reaching to the center, designed to admit the trunk of the tree. 

 The machine is placed in position, and the tree is jarred with a 

 padded mallet having a long handle. The beetles feign death, 

 fall on to the sheet and are caught in a box or can placed under 

 the center of the funnel. From time to time the beetles are 

 removed and killed. The trees should be gone over every day 

 or two while the beetles are present. To determine when they 

 appear, jar a tree or two daily, beginning about the last of Ma}'. 

 It is a more difficult matter to jar low-headed, wide-spread in-; 



