INSECTS AND DISEASES 



and again later to the opening leaf and flower 

 buds. 



5. CuRCULio Beetles pass the winter under 

 leaves and grass. In the spring they feed on 

 the blossoms and the tender leaves. As soon as 

 the young fruits are formed the female de- 

 posits her eggs in a puncture made just inside 

 a short, crescent-shaped cut in the little apple. 

 The eggs soon hatch and the young grubs bur- 

 row into the fruit to the core where they remain 

 two or three weeks, or until full grown. The 

 larvae then bore their way out of the fruit and 

 drop to the soil where they pupate. The earliest 

 of the beetles to emerge again feed on the fruit. 

 The principal damage from this pest comes 

 from the feeding of the beetles and the work of 

 the larvae, although the latter Is not as bad 

 in the apple as in the stone fruits. A poison 

 on the young foliage as soon as the beetles 

 begin to feed is the best method of combating 

 curculio. Jarring the tree is not as practicable 

 with the apple as it Is with the plum. 



6. The San Jose Scale, one of our worst 

 apple tree pests, is a sucking insect extracting 

 the juices of the tree from the trunk, limbs 

 or branches, or even from the leaves and fruit 

 when it is very abundant. At first the growth 



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