APRICOTS THE APRICOT WEEVIL. gi 



to deposit its eggs a little below the surface of the soil in June or July and later the 

 first grubs being hatched out in August, and from that time until the following spring 

 feed on the roots of their food-plants, particularly currants, gooseberries, raspberries 

 and strawberries. The larva changes to pupa in March or early April, and in a fort- 

 night emerges as a beetle without wings. That is very important, and is taken 

 advantage of in capturing the weevils at night, sheets being laid under the trees before- 

 hand, and then, by the aid of a bright lantern, the boughs are sharply shaken, and the 

 contents of the sheets thrown into boiling water. Some other beetles are also captured 

 at the same time, for the habits of the species in the genus Otiorhynchus are very 

 similar, and the same methods of destruction apply to the whole. The beetles lurk by 

 day among dead leaves, in the soil, beneath stones and clods, in holes in walls, under 

 loose mortar, anywhere out of daylight. Closing all holes in walls, and removing loose 

 mortar or bark prevent their harbouring close to their food ; clearing away stones and 

 breaking clods inconvenience them. Then slates, boards, or sacking placed on the 

 ground near their haunts and examined daily, soon effect a riddance, particularly if 

 baited as advised under " Beetles and Woodlice," Vol. I., page 262. The beetles go down 

 cracks or clefts in the soil, such as occur by walls, and in these they may be killed by 

 pouring diluted gas liquor into them, and damping the surface of the ground with it 

 through a rose watering-pot a yard or more outwards from the wall, giving enough to 

 moisten the surface well. The gas liquor must be diluted with six times its bulk of 

 water. Guano, 2 ounces to a gallon of water ; sulphate of ammonia, 1 ounce per 

 gallon of water ; also soot water, used in the same manner as gas-liquor dilution, are 

 useful applications. The ground may be sprinkled with nitrate of soda at the rate of 1^ 

 pound per rod, or 1 ounce per square yard, which the beetles detest, and it kills their 

 larvae, while the trees profit by the dressing. It may be applied in late March or early 

 April as a preventive, later as a remedy. After midsummer it is not usually desirable 

 to apply nitrate of soda, but in special cases it may be used in August for the destruction 

 of Iarva3. A dressing of salt, 7 pounds per rod, given in October, and double the 

 quantity along the foot of walls, kills many beetles or larvse below. Salt, however, 

 must not be used excessively over fruit-tree roots, and very sparingly near the stems. 



If the soil round the trees is taken off 4 inches deep in October, and carried away, 

 many beetles, eggs, and larvee are removed. Supply fresh loam in place of that 

 removed. It is a good plan to syringe wall trees before the buds swell with a 

 petroleum emulsion, | pint (wine-glassful) to 3 gallons of water. This renders the wall 



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