180 THE PLUM CURCULIO. 
By the early eighties, however, Paris green had come into some 
use. Thus Riley and Howard record the case of Mr. J. Luther 
Bowers, of Herndon, Va., who had informed these gentlemen that 
during the summer of 1880, while he was living in Clark County, 
Va., he had sprayed his trees with Paris green in the proportion of 
1 tablespoonful of green to 5 gallons of water, making the applica- 
tion with a Whitman fountain pump. He sprayed soon after the 
petals fell and again in a week or ten days. The result was the most 
perfect crop of plums he had ever grown. 
In his annual address as president of the Ontario Entomological 
Society, delivered October 15, 1884, Mr. William Saunders, con- 
cerning the Paris green treatment for the curculio, said: 
From the evidence thus far obtained it would appear that the remedy which has 
been found so efficacious in subduing the codling moth of apple, namely, Paris green 
and water in the proportion of a tablespoonful of the poison to a pail of water, will also 
protect the plum crop from the ravages of the curculio. 
Under the caption ‘‘ Paris green and the curculio,’”” Mr. Wiliam 
Creed, writing in Purdy’s Fruit Recorder for November, 1885, states: 
In the October number of the Fruit Recorder of the present year, you invite the 
experience of those who have experimented with Paris green upon the curculio. You 
will find a record of facts in this direction, from my pen, in your paper dated August, 
1884, and until some tangible refutation can be produced by others to affect its value, 
it should not be looked upon with distrust. That Paris green will “do the buisness” 
for the little Turk, I think is irrefutable—certainly it is so from my own knowledge 
and trial for the three last seasons, and I will say positively that on very close inves- 
tigation upon this year’s crop, I have not had one plum, prune, or damson fall from 
the punctures of a curculio. But previous to the use of this remedy I looked upon 
plum culture with an instinctive dismay almost ungovernable, on account of its non- 
reliability. Of course, it is not for me to force an argument or intrude too much upon 
your columns concerning this curculio remedy, but will simply crave a little space to 
show the sample of some plum growers’ logic when told of my experiments and re- 
sults. Zhe whole batch of argumeuts by these men do not, however, amount to a 
“row cf pins.” The following “walks and talks” happened in 1884. The first was 
with a nurseryman, who said, so far as 1884 was concerned, he considered the apparent 
success as stated was no criterion to go by, as it was a great plum year in this neighbor- 
hood. The second talk was with a gentleman who has about 5 acres of plums, 
prunes, and damsons. He would not listen to the subject a moment. “But,” said I, . 
“you now have coming into bearing a fine lot ef nectarine trees and you may want a 
curculio remedy,” and I at once suggested the intelligent use of Paris green by spray- 
ing, but tonoavail. “Shaking,” would do for him. The third gent was from Michi- 
gan and editor and proprietor of a paper and a lover of good fruits, but hater of the 
curculio, which was evidenced by saying that his remedy for the curculio was to cut 
the tree down, which he had done, and bought his plums from distant localities where 
the insect is less plentiful and the plum crop more to be depended upon. 
You will see from the foregoing that there is but poor encouragement and little 
temptation to introduce a good thing, and had you not invited another year’s expe- 
rience, I should have let the matter drop. Let it be understood that I do not claim 
priority of suggestion of the use of Paris green for the extinction of the curculio, as 
there may have been thousands of others investigating the matter on the same basis 
and about which I am totally ignorant; but what I do know is that I gave you my 
