THE CURCULIO. 4.3 



As soon as the jarring is finished, go to work as you see the boy in this Plate. 

 Get each Curculio between the thumb and finger, and kill it. Some have recom- 

 mended to empty the whole contents of the canvas into hot water; this is not 

 always effectual ; a few will hold fast with their claws, some will fly away, or the 

 water will soon cool. Better hunt them out individually, and crush them. 



Early in the season many dried buds, the withered petals of the blossoms, and 

 some insects, as Lady-bugs, will fall upon the sheet, requiring it to be turned or 

 emptied for every tree. This can be done in taking up the sheet. The usual way 

 of carrying this small canvas from tree to tree is to hold all the stretchers, long and 

 short, in one hand, with the fold of the sheet hanging down. As you approach a 

 tree, drop the long stretcher, and pass one of the short ones on each side, till the 

 centre of the slip comes up snug round the body; then jar, and then crush, and so 

 on, to every tree ; and then begin again at the beginning, and go on over the entire orchard 

 just as often as you find Curculios. 



In cold, windy, or wet weather, the operations of insects are in a great measure 

 suspended, and on such days the Curculio will require little attention. But as all 

 insect life is active in proportion to the heat of the weather, when the hot days do 

 come, and especially when the sun breaks out suddenly between showers, it will be 

 found necessary to hurry this work. 



The more vigorously the war is waged early in the season, the sooner it will be 

 over. Watch the young fruits carefully as they approach the sizes of those on Plate 

 II.; and the day that one of those crescent marks is seen, is the time to begin. 

 Each female now will contain from twenty to twenty-five eggs, and she will want a 

 fruit for each. Later in the season she will often be found with but few, sometimes 

 only one or two, and, of course, she is not then capable of doing much more 

 mischief. 



If your trees are full grown, a larger canvas ten or twelve feet square will be 

 required. This can easily be managed by one person, with the help of a small boy. 

 Middle-sized trees can be jarred sufficiently with a common mallet, provided you can 

 afford to cut off a good-sized branch, as shown at Figure 6 in this Plate. The edges 

 of this stump should be carefully pared, so as to leave a convex surface to receive 

 the blows. With proper care, such a stub will last during the season. The branch 



should not be less than an inch in diameter, or the stub would soon be split to pieces. 



6 



