1672 



CURIE 



On the breast, the under parts being white.. 

 The golden crest feathers are curved forward 

 and can be raised or lowered at will. Its 

 strong bill is surrounded at the base with a 

 skin in which nostrils are pierced. Curassows 

 are easily domesticated and their flesh is good 

 to eat. Large flocks are seen in branches of 

 trees in South American forests, where they 

 feed on nuts, berries and tender leaves. 



CURCULIO, kurku'lio, or SNOUT BEETLE, 

 a family of 20,000 species of beetles, including 

 some of the most destructive pests of nut and 

 fruit orchards. The plum curculio is widely 

 known as an enemy to plum, peach, apricot, 

 cherry and apple drops. The 

 rough, brownish beetles, with 

 their long snouts and angled 

 feelers, come from their winter 

 home in the bark of trees or 

 cracks in buildings when fruit 

 trees commence to bloom. They 

 then feed on the tender buds, 

 blossoms and foliage. When fruit 

 appears, the female beetle digs a 



CURCULIO 

 About three 

 hole in the pulp with her long times actual 



, , ., ., size, 



beak, deposits an egg, presses it 



down with her snout and then cuts a crescent- 

 shaped flap around the egg. There the egg 

 hatches into a fat, whitish grub which feeds on 

 the pulp, generally around the stone. In most 

 cases "wormy" fruit falls from the tree when 

 the grub is ready to develop into the pupa 

 state, which is passed in the ground. 



Fruit which is infested with curculio grubs 

 can be shaken from the tree together with ma- 

 ture beetles, and caught in a paper or cloth 

 and destroyed. In that way a spread of the 

 pest can be prevented. Spraying with arsenate 

 of lead solution, two pounds to fifty gallons of 

 water, will kill the beetles. 



CURFEW, kur'ju, the ringing of a bell 

 which, as Gray expressed it in his Elegy, "tolls 

 the knell of parting day." The ringing of the 

 curfew is a custom which originated as a pro- 

 tection against fire, but in modern usage tends 

 toward reduction of crime and the protection 

 of children. The "ringing of curfew in a few 

 American cities is at eight or nine o'clock. 

 Through the success of a curfew ordinance in- 

 troduced in Omaha, Neb., about 1880, similar 

 rules have been adopted at various times by 

 over 3,000 cities and towns of the United States, 

 some remaining in force, however, for but a 

 short period. After the ringing of curfew, 

 children under fifte'en years of age must not be 

 on the streets without the written consent of 



parents or guardians, or unless accompanied by 

 an adult. An improvement in the morals of 

 children has resulted. Colonel Alexander 

 Hogeland, who introduced the Omaha ordi- 

 nance, has been called the father of the curfew 

 law. 



In England, the custom was introduced by 

 William the Conqueror during the Middle 

 Ages. At the ringing of the curfew the literal 

 meaning of the French word, to cover fire, was 

 observed, for all lights were extinguished and 

 outdoor occupations ceased. In 1103 the law 

 was repealed by Henry I, but the bell con- 

 tinued to be rung in many places and is still 

 heard in small towns. That the custom was 

 observed in England in the time of Cromwell 

 is known from Rose Hartwick Thorpe's much- 

 quoted poem, Curfew Must Not Ring To-night. 

 It tells the thrilling story of a girl who saved 

 her lover from death by swinging on the 

 tongue of the church bell to prevent its sound- 

 ing his doom. And when 



"It was o'er ; the bell ceased swaying, and the 

 maiden stepped once more 



Firmly on the dark old ladder where for hun- 

 dred years before 



Human foot had not been planted. The brave 

 deed that she had done 



Should be told long a'ges after : as the rays of 

 setting sun 



Crimson all the sky with beauty, aged sires with 

 heads of white, 



Tell the eager, listening children, 



"Curfew did not ring that night." 



CURIE, kure' , PIERRE (1859-1906), and 

 MARIE SKLODOWSKA (1867- ), French scien- 

 tists who by combined research discovered the 

 wonderful medicinal properties of radium 

 (which see). Professor Curie was born in 

 Paris and was 

 educated at the 

 Sorbonne, where 

 he later became 

 professor of 

 physics. His 

 wife, whose fame 

 is even greater, is 

 of Polish descent, 

 and was also edu- 

 cated in Paris. 

 Their joint dis- 

 covery of radium, 

 announced in 

 1898, brought them immediate recognition from 

 the scientific world. In 1903 they were awarded 

 the Davy Medal of the Royal Society and 

 one-half of the Nobel prize for that year for 

 physics. Professor Curie died in 1906 but his 



MADAME CURIE 



