372 THE YEAK-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



weakened and diseased, and by this treatment falls from the tree. The grub, which is a small, 

 yellowish, footless, white maggot, then leaves the fallen fruit, enters the earth, changes into 

 a pupa, and in the first brood comes to the surface again, in about three weeks, as a perfect 

 weevil, to propagate its species and destroy more fruit. .Jt has not yet been decided whether 

 the latest generation of the weevil remains in the ground all winter in the grub, or in the 

 pupa state. Dr. E. Sanborn, of Andover, Massachusetts, asserts, however, that the grubs, 

 after having entered the earth, return to the surface in about six weeks as perfect weevils, which 

 must remain hidden in crevices until spring. The most popular opinion is that they remain 

 in the larva or pupa state. The worm or grub is often found in the knots or excrescences 

 which disfigure and destroy plum-trees, and has been wrongfully accused of being the* cause 

 of these swellings ; but it is highly probable that the weevil, finding in the young knots an 

 acid somewhat similar to that of the unripe fruit, merely deposits its eggs therein as the 

 nearest substitute for the real plum. 



"Some of the remedies recommended for preventing the ravages of these insects are 

 absurd, such 'as tying cotton round the trees in order to prevent them from ascending, when 

 it is known that they are furnished with wings, and fly from tree to tree with the greatest 

 ease. Among the remedies at present in use, one is to cover the fruit with a coating of 

 whitewash, mixed with a little glue, applied by means of a syringe ; another is to spread a 

 sheet upon the ground under the tree, and then jar the principal branches suddenly with a 

 mallet covered with cloth, so as not to bruise the bark, when the perfect insects will fall 

 into the sheet and feign death, and may be gathered and destroyed. Hogs are sometimes 

 turned into plum- orchards, where, by eating the fallen and diseased fruit, they materially 

 lessen the evil. Coops of chickens are placed under the trees, and the branches often shaken; 

 the insects fall, and are eagerly seized and devoured. All fallen fruit should be gathered up 

 several times in the course of the season and burned, or given to hogs, or destroyed in some 

 other way. By so doing, thousands of the grubs which have not yet left the plums are 

 destroyed ; but, as yet, no thoroughly practical remedy has been made public, and the above 

 are merely mentioned as being useful in small gardens containing only a few trees." 



Camphor vs. Pea-Bags. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the "Horticulturist" says: 



"Four years ago, ,last spring, iny seed-peas were more than half destroyed by bugs, the 

 largest and best varieties being most injured. The summer following, I had boxes made, 

 one for each variety, with a cover ; and when the peas were gathered, I put into each box 

 with two quarts of peas, from six to eight bits of gum-camphor the size of a large pea, and 

 mixed them together, and closed the box. The next spring there was not a pea injured. I 

 have pursued the same course every year since, and have not had one pea affected by 

 bugs." 



The Wheat-Weevil. 



Ax a recent meeting of the N. Y. State Agricultural Society, the following remarks relative 

 to the wheat-weevil, were made by Dr. Fitch, of N. Y. : 



It appears that this insect has long been known in England, but is not found in France. It 

 appears strange that they should have found their way across the Atlantic, and not across the 

 Channel. They were found in Vermont in 1820. It has since extended, with the strides of a 

 giant, over the country. Last year it reached Indiana, and did great damage to the wheat 

 crop. It is estimated that the injury done the wheat crop in New York State the past year, 

 at $2.18 per bushel, exceeds fifteen million dollars. 



No doubt when we know the habits, etc. of the whe, at-weevil, we shall be able to destroy it. 

 The insect deposits its eggs the last of May. Just before harvest some of the insects leave 

 the ears of wheat and descend into the ground. The others remain in the grain and may be 

 easily destroyed. If we could discover some means of destroying those which are in the 

 ground, we might hope soon to stay the ravages of this insect. In Great Britain the wheat- 

 weevil is kept in check by a parasitic insect. This parasite is not found in this country. We 



