THE CURCULIO. 95 



They have no nostrum, no Curculio cure, and they know there is none. There is 

 prevention ; but if it has not been practised, and the Curculio comes upon the young 

 plums, they are jarred down upon canvas and killed. 



The Jaune Hative was now ripe, and looked tempting ; but, like the earliest 

 Peaches or Pears, not so fine as later kinds. Some varieties were rotting, and where 

 they grew in clusters were affecting all they touched. It was easy to see that the 

 puncture of the Curculio had been the- cause. The foreman remarked that the 

 jarring had not been continued long enough. 



dug. y. NIAGARA FALLS. Rambled round Goat Island before breakfast. It 

 contains sixty-two and a half acres, chiefly the original forest. Great trees of bass 

 wood, elm, maple, some that had trembled every moment for centuries from the 

 pouring of this mighty torrent of water. Near the bridge is a house and garden. A 

 few fruit trees were growing here. The apples were very badly deformed by both 

 the Curculio and Apple Moth. Peaches also suffered from the former. A tree of 

 Sweet Bough apples at Suspension Bridge was examined. Half the fruit was spoilt 

 by these two enemies. 



Aug. 10. Home again, and have been examining some of my insect propa- 

 gating houses to-day. The Curculios from plums have all escaped, having forced 

 openings through the millinet or gau/.e coverings. The Curculio is hard to manage, 

 but wire gauze would have prevented this. Those from the bushel of apples from 

 Mr. P.'s are now in the ground, undergoing their change ; but I see very few of them, 

 considering the number of apples, and the proportion of other years. 



Aug. u. Much has been written about catching injurious insects in wide- 

 mouthed bottles partly filled with sweetened fluids. Some have said that they have 

 caught the Curculio in that way. I have an impression that a great many people do 

 not know the Curculio when they see it. For some days I kept a bottle thus pre- 

 pared, hanging in a tree in the garden. When I returned from my recent trip of a 

 few days it was full. It was bridged, so that more insects could go in and not be 

 drowned. It is said that there are ants in South America that, when they emigrate, 

 move in a straight line, never turning aside, no matter what may be the obstruction. 

 If they encounter a stream of water they rush right in, until it is so bridged with 

 their bodies that the rest can go over with safety. So it was with this trap. I 

 took out the insects, separated and counted them. There were 571 flies of eight 

 different species, 8 small moths, 3 mosquitoes, i lace-wing fly, and i wasp. 



