218 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



lortirultural Scpvtmnit. 



THE PLUM CURCUnO. 



The plum weevil, or curculio, (Khynclieenus nenu- 

 phar,) is a small, dark brown beetle, scarcely one- fifth 

 of an inch io length, and of a nature so shy and re- 

 tiring that he is seldom seen, unless searched for pur- 

 posely. He is, however, a most mischievous little 

 scamp, and has been the subject of more newspaper 

 articles than any other insect injurious to fruit trees. 

 He is the uncompromising enemy of all smooth stone 

 fruits, and, in many sections of the countiy, has 

 caused the cultivation of the plum to be entirely 

 abandoned. 



The habits of the curculio are pretty well known. 

 It deposits its eggs in the plum shortly after the 

 email cap formed by the blossom falls off, making a 

 semi-circular or crescent-shaped mark on ihe side of 

 the young fruit. In four or five days after the egg 

 is laid, a small bluish line, near the skin, may be seen 

 extending from the incision, which affords conclusive 

 evidence that the egg is hatched. The larva, or grub, 

 consumes the juices of the plum, and causes it to 

 shrivel and fall from the tree. Almost immediately 

 after the fruit has fallen, the grub leaves the plum 

 and burrows into the ground, where it remains in the 

 pupa form till the next spring, when it undergoes its 

 fast transformation, and comes out of the ground 

 ready to ascend the tree and commence its work of 

 destruction by the propagation of its species. The 

 acconipanyiag engravings will illustrate these traus- 



FlG. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



formations. Fiff. 1 represents the larva, or worm, as 

 round in the fruit when it falh; fig. 2, the pupa, or 

 fortfj in which it lives in the ground; fig. 3, its ap- 

 pearance ia the perfect or beetle state; fig. 4, its as- 

 sumed form when shaken from the 

 tree. The annexed cut shows the 

 crescent-shaped mark on a stung 

 plum, magnified to about twice its 

 usual size. Our engraver has placed 

 a curculio on the plum, which, we 

 are free to confess, is not a very ac- 

 curate likeness. His antenna3 are usually bent be- 

 tween the fore legs, and not lifted up, as in the en- 

 graving. 



No certain recaedy against tlie injurous attacks of 

 the careuiio hags yet been discovered. Good crops 

 ^f plums, apricot^ oectarines, and ether smooth stone 



fruit, however, can be obtained by the diligent use of 

 processes founded on the well known habits of the 

 ■' Grand Turk." The most efficacious, is that krowa 

 as "jarring the tree." As soon as the insects make 

 their appearance, or when the plums are about the 

 size of j)eas, spread white cotton sheets under the 

 tree, and shake off the curculio. The plan usually 

 recommended, is to strike the end of a limb that has 

 been sawed off with a mallet or an axe, or to rap 

 the branches with a long pole having a bumper at 

 the end, such as an old India rubber overshoe, to 

 prevent injury to the ba k. The insects will drop 

 from the tree, and should be summarily disposed of by 

 pinching them gently with the thumb and fingec 

 If the cotton sheeting is spread out and tacked to a 

 light frame, six feet wide by twelve long, and doubling 

 in the middle like ihe Ijaves of a book, it will be 

 much more convenient. Two such frames, one on 

 each side of the stem, will be large enough for a good 

 sized tree. The sheets can be easily doubled to- 

 gether, and the curculios pouied into a pail of hot 

 water. This process must be repeated every morn- 

 ing, as long as any curculios are found on the trees. 

 A sharp rap is requisite to jar them all oS. 



Another method, nearly if not quite as efficacious, 

 and requiring much less labor, is to dig up the soil 

 around the trees in the spring, and tread it smooth 

 and hard, and sweep up all the stung fruit as soon as 

 it falls from the tree. It is not too late to adopt this 

 method the present season, and our object in writing 

 this article is to urge our readers to give it a trial. 

 True, it will not save the fruit this year; but if the 

 plums are picked up as soon as they fall, the larvce 

 will not get into the ground, and next year there will 

 be but few curculios to molest the fruit. Messrs. 

 Ellwanger & Barry, of this city, we believe origi- 

 nated this method, or at least adopt it in their exten- 

 sive nurseries with great success. All their plum 

 trees last year were loaded with fruit. We recollect 

 especially a Bradshatv tree that was so completely 

 covered with large and beautiful plums as to be the 

 admiration of all who saw it. 



The efficaciousness of thife process is corroborated 

 by the well known fact that where hogs and poultry 

 have free access to the plum trees, and eat the plums 

 as soon as they drop, the curculio is not troublesome. 

 It has also been observed, that where trees are sur- 

 rounded with a close brick or stone pavement, and 

 where, consequenth', the larva) cannot burrow into 

 the ground, the fruit is not injuriously attacked by 

 the curculio. Mr. Longworth, of Cincinnati, has 

 twenty-seven trees so situated, and which have borne 

 crops for the last twenty-five years, while trees ia 

 other parts of his grounds, where the soil is culti- 

 vated, have only borne two crops in the same period. 



PRESERVING FRUITS WITHOUT SUGAR. 



All the successful methods of preserving fruit 

 without sugar, though perhaps empirically discovered, 

 fire based on principles which it cannot but be inter- 

 esting and useful to understand. A few of these we 

 will briefly state. 



As a general rule, no substance can ferment or de- 

 cay without the presence of air and moisture, and a 

 temperature above the freezing, and below the boil- 

 ing, point of water. 



Substances which contain no nitrogen, such as pu,re 

 sugar, starch, gum, oil, &c., will not fermeni qt decay. 



