THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 17 



packing, and very easily kept in good cultivation. To this character 

 of the soil must be attributed much of the success with the Ransom 

 method ; for I am satisfied, after full experiment, that in the warmer 

 climate and heavier soil of St. Louis, it is of no practical use after the 

 middle of May, or at the farthest, after the first of June. The few 

 specimens that I have captured by this method at St, Louis were 

 found under small pieces of new shingle; and Mr. W. T. Durry, who 

 has 2,300 trees in his orchard at St. Joseph, also found this the best 

 kind of trap. Mr. Ransom, however, prefers small pieces of oak bark, 

 which he places close around the tree, with the inner or concave side 

 pressed to the ground. Stones do not answer well, and corn cobs are 

 objectionable because it requires so much time to discover and de- 

 stroy the Curculios, which hide in their deep cavities. 



The best time of day to take the Curculios from under the chips is 

 undoubtedly in the afternoon ; but it must not be left too long, as they 

 begin to leave and scatter over the trees as soon as the sun approaches 

 the horizon. The chips should be laid around the trees as soon as the 

 frost is out of the ground, or at least by the time the blossoms begin to 

 expand; for more beetles will be caught under them during a few 

 weeks thus early in the season than throughout the rest of the year. 



Before concluding this branch of the subject, I earnestly urge 

 upon fruit-growers throughout the State to give this process a good 

 trial during the coming season, and to report the results to me. The 

 observations of a hundred persons in as many different parts of the 

 State must necessarily be of more value than those of a single indi- 

 vidual in any one locality; and as the process was not prominently 

 brought before the public last year, until it was too late to make 

 thorough experiments, it is very desirable to have the true value of 

 the method in Missouri definite^ a&certained in 1871. To arrive at 

 such definite knowledge of its value, I need the co-operation of intel- 

 ligent fruit-growers, and for this reason I hope that notes and experi- 

 ments will be made and sent to me at my office, any time during the 

 summer. The number of trees experimented on, number of beetles 

 captured, time of year, hour of day, character of soil, and all other 

 facts connected with the experiments should be noted ; as they all 

 help us to a more thorough knowledge of the true value of the process 



KEEPING IT IN CHECK BY THE OFFER OF PREMIUMS. 



After visiting St. Joseph and vicinity, I passed into Ontario, where 

 I found the trees overloaded with fine unblemished fruit. I found my 

 friend, Mr. Win. Saunders, of London, also much occupied with, and 

 interested in, the Curculio question. He was, intact, carefully count- 

 ing different lots of this insect which had been received from different 

 parts of the Dominion; for be it known, that the enterprising Fruit 

 Growers' Association of Ontario, in its praiseworthy efforts to check 

 the increase of the Curculio, offered a cent per head for every one 



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