Inserts and Diseases. 



153 



occasional instances they must travel considerable distances. Indeed, 

 they have been known to be wafted on the wind for a half mile or 

 more, the windward side of orchards being most infested, immediately 

 after strong winds from a thickly planted plum neighborhood. In 

 the cool of the morning, they are nearly torpid, and can scarcely fly, 

 and crawl but slowly ; hence, at this time of the day they are most 

 easily destroyed. 



Their flight appears to be never more than a few feet from the 

 ground, and successful attempts have been made to shut them out 

 of fruit gardens by means of a tight board fence, nine or ten feet 

 high, entered by a tight gate. 



The remedies for the curculto are various. Those which merely 

 repel without destroying the insect, and which are consequently 

 inefficient, include such as coating the young fruit with tobacco or 

 lime-wash, or applying salt, offensive odors, etc. Among efficient 

 remedies, which kill the insects, are jarring them down on sheets 

 spread under the tree, and destroying the young larvae in the fallen 

 fruit by means of animals confined in the orchard, or by sweeping 

 up the fallen fruit and feeding it to swine. 



Jarring down on Sheets. Several contrivances have been pro- 

 posed for spreading the sheets under the trees, on which to jar down 

 curculios for the purpose of killing them. After trying a number, 

 we find nothing better, and none so cheap and quickly made, as the 

 contrivance represented in the accompanying cuts. Fruit raisers 

 often omit their attacks until too late, because they have no frames 

 ready at the time. The one here described may be made in five 

 minutes, and the sheeting when done with used for other purposes. 

 For small or young trees, two pieces, each a yard wide and two yards 

 long, will be sufficient. For larger trees procure wider stuff, and 

 give another yard in length. It may be necessary for old trees, to 

 stitch two pieces together, but 

 this can scarcely be needed 

 where wide sheeting is at hand. 



To stiffen these pieces take 

 small rods, or long pieces of laths 

 of a length equal to that of the 

 sheeting, and sharpen both ends. 

 Punch these ends into the four 

 corners, so as to produce tight 

 stretching, as shown in the figure 

 (Fig. 189). A notch cut in the wood a short distance from the point, 

 will prevent the cloth from slipping too far down. Then take 



7* 



Fig. 189. 



