1184 



THE FRUIT INDUSTRY IN NEW YORK STATE 



FIG. 389. 

 YOUNG PLUM 

 SHOWING INJURY 

 BY CURCULIO. (e) 

 EGG PUNCTURE; 

 (/) FEEDIN 

 PUNCTURE 



The adult is a rough-bodied snout beetle about one-fifth inch 

 long, of a brownish color mottled with gray and black. About the 

 time the buds open in spring, these beetles emerge from their 

 winter quarters. They begin feeding as soon as 

 the fruit has set, making small round holes 

 through the skin and eating the pulp. The 

 eggs are deposited just beneath the surface of 

 the plum, in characteristic, crescent-shaped 

 punctures. The small, grublike larvae that soon 

 emerge from the eggs burrow into the fruit, and 

 within two or three weeks become full-grown, 

 when they leave the fruit and enter the ground 

 to pupate. The adults that emerge about four 

 weeks later, feed until fall and hibernate in 

 debris in the orchard or in adjacent woodlands. 



Control. Spraying with arsenate of lead has 

 been found effective in holding this insect in 

 check. The first application should be made 

 just after the petals fall, and the second a week 

 or ten days later, using three pounds of arsenate of lead to fift; 

 gallons of water. Some producers use the arsenate in the sam 

 proportion with bordeaux mixture, 2 2 50, or self -boiled lim 

 sulphur wash, 8 8 50, thus making a combined insecticide an 

 fungicide. Bordeaux mixture should not be used on Japanes 

 varieties, however. For many years jarring was extensively e: 

 ployed, but now it is seldom used on a commercial scale. Th 

 pupae, which are within an inch or two of the surface of th 

 ground, may be destroyed by shallow cultivation at frequent inte 

 vals from July 10 until August 10. The eradication of win 

 quarters will reduce the number of beetles in spring. 



The Plum Gouger 



Plum gouger, Coccotorus scutellaris Le Conte, is a serious 

 of plums and allied fruits in the north central states and th< 

 western Mississippi Valley. The injury to the fruit may easil; 

 be mistaken for work of the curculio, but the adult is readil; 

 distinguished by the yellow head, thorax, and legs, and the dun 

 colored wins covers. 



