340 Plums and Plum Culture 



such thing exists in fact. At the present day plum 

 growers rely chiefly on other preventive or remedial 

 measures and pay little attention to the selection of 

 the "curculio-proof" varieties. 



Spraying may prevent damage by the curculio to 

 a considerable extent. The beetles eat the leaves and 

 buds and fruit, and hence it is thought that they can 

 be poisoned. The trees should be sprayed with paris 

 green, about one pound to 100 gallons of water, just 

 before flowering. Another spraying should be given 

 a week after the blossoms fall. If bordeaux mixture 

 is used for the fruit-rot, leaf-spot, or other diseases, 



JOHNSON'S CURCULIO CATCHER 



the paris green may be added to it and applied at the 

 same spraying. 



One of the best preventive measures is that of 

 jarring the trees and catching the beetles as they fall. 

 This is sometimes done in an inverted umbrella, or 

 upon a sheet spread on the ground; but many better 

 arrangements have been devised. Several curculio 

 catchers are manufactured and held for sale, more or 

 less covered by patents. The general type of such 

 machines is shown in the accompanying figure of 

 Johnson curculio catcher. 



The principal feature of all these machines is the 



