BUGS, INSECTS, ETC.— REMEDIES FOR. 



The size varies from i-2oth to nearly 

 i-i ?th of an inch, but the colors are quite 

 uniform, the body being ferruginous or 

 rusty-brown, often with the thorax and 

 anterior third of the wing-covers ash-gray 

 — the thorax having three more or less 

 distinct pale lines. 



Remedies and Preventive Meas- 

 ures. — Notwithstanding we have had re- 

 ports, published in the columns of our ag- 

 ricultural papers, of the relative number 

 of Apple and Plum Curculios captured 

 from peach trees by jarring with the Cur- 

 culio-catcher, we are fully convinced that 



Fig. 23. 

 such reports were not based on facts, and 

 that we may never expect to subdue this 

 insect by the jarring process. It is not as 

 timid or as much inclined to drop as the 

 Plum Curculio, and though it can occa- 

 sionally be brought down, it generally re- 

 mains defiantly on the fruit or on the 

 bough, through the gentlest as well as the 

 severest jarring of the tree. Indeed, its 

 habit of transforming in the fruit places it 

 in a great measure beyond our control, 

 and we fear that this is one of the few in- 

 sects with which we can do but little by 

 artificial means. But we have only just 

 commenced to understand this foe, and 

 there is much yet to learn about it. We 

 sincerely hope that the few facts which 

 have been here given will increase the 

 reader's interest in this insect and enable 

 him to carry on future observations and 

 experiments with a better understanding ; 

 so that they will at last result in making 

 us masters of this rather difficult situa- 

 tion. Mr. H. Lewelling, of High Hill, 

 Montgomery county, Missouri, who has 

 had much of his fruit injured by this in- 

 sect, informs me that Tallman's Sweet is 

 preferred by it to all other varieties, and 

 our observations should, as much as pos- 

 sible, tend in the direction of deciding 

 which varieties are most subject to, and 



which most exempt from its attacks ; and 

 which varieties fall most readily when in- 

 fested by it. 



THE PEA-WEEVIL.— The pea-weevil, 

 or pea-bug, does not deposit its eggs in 

 the flowers of the pea within the pod, as 

 is sometimes taught, but on the surface of 

 the young pods, without special reference 

 to particular parts. They are attracted 

 to the outside of the pod by a " viscid' 

 fluid which dries white, and glistens like 

 silk. As soon as the eggs are hatched, 

 the larvae bore directly through the pod, 

 one entering each pea and making a 

 puncture smaller than a pin-hole. As the 

 pea and pod enlarge, the puncture closes 

 up, and the larva excavates a small cavi- 

 ty in one side of the pea, leaving its out- 

 er coating whole. In this cavity it 

 assumes the pupa state, and comes out a 

 perfect beetle the next year, usually about 

 the time the young peas are in bloom. 

 If the weevils are in the peas when sown, 

 they remain in the ground till the proper 

 time to come out and deposit their eggs. 



Remedy. — Inclose the peas, after they 

 are perfectly dry, in a tight cask, and 

 keep them over to the second year before 

 sowing, which will kill the weevils; to 

 put them into water just before sowing, 

 when the sound ones will mostly sink, 

 and those containing the weevil will rise 

 to the surface. Also immerse them in 

 hot water for one or two minutes, by 

 which most all the weevils will be killed 

 and the sprouting of the peas not in- 

 jured. 



All peas intended for seed should be 

 examined, and it can very soon be de- 

 termined whether or not they are infested. 

 The thin covering over the hole of the 

 peas that contain weevils and which 

 may be called the eye-spot, is generally 

 somewhat discolored, and by this eye- 

 spot those peas which ought not to 

 be planted can soon be distinguished. 

 Where this covering is off there is little 

 danger, for in that case the weevil has 

 either left, or, if still within the pea, is 

 usually dead. It would, of course, be 

 tedious to carefully examine a large lot of 

 peas, one by one, in order to separate 

 those that are buggy, and the most expe- 

 ditious way of separating the sound from 

 the unsound, is to throw them into wa- 

 ter, when the sound ones will mostly sink 

 and the unsound swim. 



