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Most practical entomologists have held that the weevils 

 live during the summer feeding upon the leaves of apple 

 trees. Dr. Henneguy, from close observation, has come to the 

 conclusion that they do not feed at all, but derive sustentation 

 from a reserve of fat, corps grassieux, stored up in their bodies 

 during the pupal state. Towards the end of September the 

 weevils can no longer be seen. They retire for hibernation to 

 chinks in the bark of apple and pear trees, also in the lichenous 

 and mossy growths upon their branches, as well as under stones 

 and rubbish beneath and around the trees, and possibly in many 

 other refuges. They also pass the winter under the bark of other 

 trees than apple trees, as they have been found upon oaks 

 during the summer. 



Circumstances of the Attack. 



According to the natural and unfailing instinct of insects, the 

 weevils do not appear until the weather is mild and the flower 

 buds have begun to swell. If the season is, and continues, 

 warm and growing, the effects of the attack are usually of a 

 comparatively slight character. But should the weather be 

 cold and changeable, as is so often the case in Great Britain 

 and in the north and western parts of France, the flower buds 

 are slowly developed, and the weevils consequently have time 

 to lay their full complement of eggs, whose period of hatching 

 is accomplished before the buds have become full flowers. 



The varieties of apple trees which blossom very early and 

 very late are more likely to escape the attacks of the weevil 

 than those of the main crop whose blossom comes late in May 

 in ordinary seasons. In 1888, some varieties resisted the attack 

 in France, especially one known as Douce du Jarrell, a very free 

 blossoming sort, three parts of whose buds produced flowers 

 from the 14th to the 29th of May, and another variety named 

 la Goupilliere, which blossomed from the 1 7th to the 31st of 

 May without having a bud invaded by the weevil. 



Remedies and Methods of Prevention. 



A method of prevention adopted in France and strongly 

 recommended by M. Petit, who has been before referred to, is 

 to spray the limbs and branches of apple trees between October 

 and February with a solution of sulphate of iron, in order to 

 destroy the lichens and mosses which serve as harbours for the 

 weevils and other insects.* M. Petit's receipt for this solution is 

 one pound of sulphate of iron to one gallon of water. This 

 can be sent up among the branches by means of a strong garden 

 engine with a powerful pump. 



A most excellent way of killing lichens and mosses on fruit 

 trees, adopted in Kent, is to throw freshly slaked powdered lime 



* This treatment with sulphate of iron would materially benefit the trees by 

 clearing them of lichenous and mossy growths. 



