134 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



able that they are doing much injury except where they punc- 

 ture apples for food. When cold weather comes it seems 

 certain that they find hiding places to spend the winter. 



During years when these insects are abundant, 70, 80 or 

 even 90 per cent of the plums may be destroyed or injured by 

 their attacks. Not satisfied with this, they puncture cherries 

 and apples also; and recently their work on the latter fruit has 

 become so marked that the plum curculio is now considered 

 quite an important apple pest. It lays its eggs in the fruit, 

 causing many apples to fall off early, and the beetles which 

 are produced in the summer also feed upon them, producing 

 unsightly blemishes which seriously reduce their value. 



No one method of treatment will suffice for this pest. Spray- 

 ing with the arsenate of lead just before the blossoms open 

 gives good results, as the leaves, upon which the beetles feed 

 more or less while waiting for the fruit to form, will thus be 

 covered with poison. In the case of the apple this treatment 

 combined with Bordeaux mixture has already been advised 

 for the bud moth, so it is not in reality an addition to the treat- 

 ments. A second spraying after the blossoms fall should also 

 be given, and has already been advised for the control of the 

 codling moth; and the second spraying for this pest will also 

 help control the curculio. 



It is very possible, however, that these treatments may be 

 only partially successful because of rainy weather, and it is 

 often desirable to resort to the "curculio catcher." This is 

 practically a large frame covered with white cloth, placed be- 

 neath the tree, which is then suddenly jarred. During the 

 greater part of the day and even during the warm nights the 

 curculios fly quite freely, but for some reason they are very 

 sluggish early in the morning and about sunset. At such times 

 they will fall from a jarred tree without taking flight, and may 

 easily be gathered from the cloth beneath and crushed. 



As many of the grubs fall to the ground in the fruit, and all 

 of them enter the ground to pupate, fowls and hogs permitted 

 to run through the orchard, as was suggested for the apple 

 maggot, will destroy large numbers of these insects; and spray- 

 ing, jarring and the utilization of these animals will, taken 

 together, be an effective check upon the ravages of the plum 

 curculio. 



