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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE PLUM CURCULIO A FOE TO APPLES. 



PROF. F. L. WASHBURN, STATE ENTOMOLOGIST, ST. ANTHONY PARK. 



That this pest, which we associate so commonly with plums, 

 does attack apples is not a new fact, since this departure from the 

 orthodox food habits has been known for some time, but since apple- 

 raising in Minnesota is, practically speaking, in its infancy, this 

 naughty feature in the life of this weevil, illustrated by the loss in, 

 at least one instance, of lOO per cent of the apple crop in a southern 

 Minnesota orchard last season, is unceremoniously brought to our 

 very door in a most emphatic and unpleasant manner. Several other 

 orchards have suffered, to my certain knowledge, anci there are 

 probably many other instances of its work in apples in this state 

 not known to me. I might add that I placed some of these apples 

 in a breeding jar, and in September had a fine lot of plum curculios 

 from the same. There is no doubt but that this curculio is to be 

 regarded C]uite as much of a pest to the apple in Minnesota as the 

 codling tnoth or even more. 



Plum curculio, larva or grub, pupa and imago. After I^ugger. 



The plum curculio belongs to- the family of beetles known as 

 "snout beetle," or weevils, of which there are about lo.ooo known 

 species, which family causes a loss of over $30,000,000 annually 

 in the United States. It is unnecessary tO' state that our little friend 

 with the humps on his back, the plum curculio, does all he can, 

 with other members of his family, to keep up his reputation as an 

 evil-doer. 



As a result of this weevil's attack on the apple we find the fruit 

 dwarfed, misshapen, covered with ugly scars, and actually worth- 

 less as it falls to the ground, except for hog food. If one cuts into 

 one of these worthless apples during midsummer, in July, say, the 

 small, whitish grub is disclosed, actively engaged in boring through 



