12 THE PLUM IN KANSAS. 



larva remain till the ensuing spring, when in their perfect form they 

 again emerge as beetles and review their ravages on the fruit. It is 

 true that Harris and some other naturalists have proved that the in- 

 sect does sometimes undergo its final transformation and emerge from 

 the ground in twenty days, but we are inclined to the opinion that 

 this only takes place with a small portion of the brood which, per- 

 haps, have penetrated but a very short distance below the surface of 

 the soil. These, making their appearance in midsummer and finding 

 no young fruit, deposit their eggs in the young branches of trees, etc. 

 But it is undeniable that the season of the plum-weevil is early spring, 

 and that most of the larvae which produce the annual swarm remain 

 in the soil during the whole period intervening since the fall of the 

 previous year's fruit. Plum trees growing in hard-trodden court- 

 yards usually bear plentiful crops. 



The modes of destroying the plum-weevil are the following : 



1. Shaking the tree and killing the beetles. Watch the young 

 fruit, and you will perceive when the insect makes its appearance by 

 its punctures upon them. Spread some sheets under the trees and 

 strike the trunk pretty sharply several times with a wooden mallet. 

 The insects will quickly fall, and should be killed immediately. This 

 should be repeated daily for weeks, or so long as the insects continue 

 to make their appearance. Repeated trials have proved beyond ques- 

 tion that this rather tedious mode is a very effectual one if persisted 



m 



* 



Coops of chickens placed about under the trees at this season will 

 assist in destroying the insects. 



Dr. E. S. Hull, of Alton, 111., has invented a machine for catching 

 the curculio on a large scale for orchard culture, but not having seen 

 it, we copy an extract from the Hearth and Home: 



"This is nothing but a gigantic white umbrella turned bottom up- 

 ward, mounted upon an immense wheelbarrow, and split in front to 

 receive the trunk of the tree which is to be operated upon. At the 

 interior end of the split in front is a padded bumper, which strikes 

 against the trunk as the operator wheels the barrow, first against one 



♦Merely shaking the trees is not sufficient. The following memorandum, as 

 additional proof, we quote from the Genenre Fanner: "Under a tree in a remote 

 part of the fruit garden, having spread the sheets, I made the following experi- 

 ment: On shaking the tree well I caught five curculios, on jarring it well with 

 the hand I caught twelve more, and on striking the tree with a stone eight more 

 dropped on the sheet. I was now convinced that I had been in error, and call- 

 ing in assistance and using a hammer to jar the tree violently, we caught in less 

 than an hour more than 260 of these insects." We will add to this, that to pre- 

 vent injury to the tree a large wooden mallet should be substituted for a hammer, 

 and it is better if a thick layer of cloth is bound over its head. A sharp, stun- 

 ning blow is found necessary to readily dislodge the insect, and as such, when 

 given directly upon the bark of the tree, often causes a bruise, it is found to be 

 a good practice to saw off a small limb and strike the blow upon the stump. 



