SPRAYING PEACHES. 15 
Most of the peaches punctured while small soon fall from the 
effect of the injury or on account of the presence of the developing 
grubs. After a peach is of some size, about one third grown, most of 
the larve apparently are unable to develop successfully in it, owing 
to its vigorous growth. There is a considerable period, therefore, 
when the curculio is able to inflict but little damage to vigorous- 
growing peaches, though the fruit may be more or less scarred by 
the feeding and egg punctures, from which gum may exude, espe- 
cially during moist weather (figs. 4 and 5). As stated elsewhere, 
these punctures and the exudation of gum greatly favor the brown- 
rot, forming a nidus for spores of the fungus and furnishing an easy 
point of infection. After the period of rapid growth of peaches has 
passed and the ripening process has begun, the curculio larva is able to 
develop readily in the fruit and, as the beetles are still ovipositing 
when early and midsummer varieties are ripening, wormy ripe 
peaches are often to be noted at picking time. The loss caused by 
worminess of fruit (fig. 6), while often quite important, is perhaps 
less so than that resulting from the ‘‘stings” which deform and scar 
the fruit. Wormy fruit and that which is scarred to any extent 
ripen prematurely, as a rule, and in untreated orchards may consti- 
tute a considerable proportion of the crop. 
LIFE HISTORY AND HABITS. 
How the curculio passes the winter.—The curculio passes the winter 
in the adult or beetle stage under trash in orchards, along fences, 
terraces, etc., but especially in woods adjacent to orchards. The 
beetles come out of hibernation in the spring at about the blooming 
period of the peach, feeding at first upon the buds and foliage and 
later also upon the fruit. 
Occurrence in orchards.—The invasion by the beetles of orchards in 
spring and the effect on their abundance of neighboring woods have 
been several times investigated. Much may be done to reduce their 
number by keeping the orchards and surroundings free from trash. 
Where practicable, it will be desirable to burn over in early spring 
woods adjacent to orchards in order to destroy the beetles hiber- 
nating there. Jarring records of considerable areas of peach or- 
chards have been made which show the occurrence of the curculio 
first in large numbers adjacent to woods, terraces, or other favoring 
places. Table I shows the results of a jarring record made by 
Messrs. E. W. Scott and E. L. Jenne, at Barnesville, Ga., during 1910. 
Figure 7 illustrates the arrangement of the trees with respect to 
their surroundings. 
440 
