60 



®I)C limner' JHontljln Visitor. 



from tree to tree in .he same orchard ; but I be- j of its nature by folding up its wings and never 

 lieve I can prove my position above taken lie- u#ng them at all 



yond a doubt. Near my garden there is not for 

 a great distance a single fruit tree of any kind, 

 and in it there never were any until I planted 

 mine; yet the first season they fruited they were 

 attacked by die curculio and all destroyed. Now 

 1 ask from whence did they come ? They could 

 not come up from the earth under the trees as 

 many contend, because there never had been 

 any fruit of any kind in the garden or near it 

 before, in which they could have bred. This, 

 Mr. Editor, is a very important point, as you will 

 see at once, for many of the remedies both of 

 prevention and destruction are based entirely 

 upon the idea that they do not fly or emigrate 

 from place to place. 



i will here state another fact which tends to 

 prove my position. On examining the fruit on a 

 young apple tree which stands far away from 

 any other fruit tree, and which had never fruited 

 before, I found this insect at work upon the 

 young fruit and some of them had already 

 blighted and fallen. 



Again in the summer of 1847 I attempted to 

 destroy the curculio by placing sheets under my 

 trees, and then, after shaking and jarring the 

 same, killing them as they dropped upon the 

 same. This process I repeated night and morn- 

 ing. 1 sometimes caught as many as thirty from 

 a single tree at night, and as many more in the 

 morning, but generally the most in the morning. 

 They could not have come from the ground un- 

 der the tree, because some of them had not 

 fruited before, but must have flown there as 1 

 think during the night and from abroad. 



One other fact as to their flying I will here 

 state, which is this. I have caught them and 

 holding them in my hand, jammed them not 

 enough to disable them by rolling them over 

 with my knife ; in almost every instance have 

 they spread their wings and flown away directly 

 through the air as far as my eye could follow 

 them. 



From all these facts I am satisfied that the 

 curculio flies abroad in search of food for its 

 young and itself; and that the contrary opinion 

 of some writers is altogether incorrect. This 

 insect has as strong an instinct, if such it may 

 be called, to hunt out the most natural place and 

 food for its young as have all the higher order of 

 animals to find their proper food and place. 



What teaches the apple moth or butterfly to 

 select the apple or cherry tree upon which to 

 make her water-proof cells in which she depo- 

 sits her eggs to the almost total exclusion of all 

 others? The answer is obvious. The young 

 and tender leaves and opening blossoms of those 

 trees furnish the young caterpillars with their 

 natural food, and that same instinct teaches the 

 curculio to search after that place and kind of 

 food most acceptable to its young. 



According to the economy of nature nothing 

 was made in vain; and if so, will those cultiva- 

 tors who contend that the curculio does not use 

 his wings explain why they were so made ? 1 

 believe they were made for use, and the sooner 

 this point is conceded, the quicker will some pre- 

 ventive remedy be discovered by which we can 

 protect our plums from their fatal attacks. 



With just as much reason might it be asserted 

 that the beautiful little robin had had wings giv- 

 en to it not to use by flying, and that it had per- 

 verted entirely the laws of its nature in using 

 them, as that this insect had changed the order 



The reason why I have written so much on 

 this habit of the curculio, Mr. Editor, is, that al- 

 most every body who has paid any attention to 

 the prevention of its attacks upon their fruit, 

 has undertaken to do it with the belief that it 

 does not emigrate from place to place. 



1 hope I have written enough to turn the at- 

 tention of those who have been afflicted by the 

 loss of their fruit to a careful consideration of 

 the whole subject. 



I now propose to examine some or all of the 

 various remedies which have been from time to 

 time proposed. 



Mr. Kenrick recommends paving with stones 

 beneath the trees, which he thinks will prevent 

 the descent into the earth of the grubs as they 

 leave the fallen fruit. This remedy is based en- 

 tirely upon the idea that the curculio does not 

 fly from tree to tree. 1 do not think it will ans- 

 wer the purpose. If all the fruit trees in a given 

 territory could be so paved at one and the same 

 lime, a great many grubs might he destroyed, but 

 the expense would be enormous. The remedy 

 is impracticable. It may have answered some 

 good purpose in some city gardens where the 

 flight of this insect is impeded by the high 

 walls of the houses, but for the country it is of 

 no use. 



Salt has been highly recommended by some, 

 and is no doubt an essential fertilizer of the soil 

 particularly for the plum tree; but the reader 

 will see at once that even if it has the power to 

 destroy the grub in its changing state as it lays 

 in the earth, that to be effectual there should be 

 a general simultaneous use of it by all in the 

 same neighborhood. By some it is contended 

 that the silt is taken up in the sap, and is thus 

 conveyed to the place which makes the taste of 

 the plum so offensive to the curculio as to cause 

 it to abandon it without making the usual depo- 

 sit of its eggs. This may possibly be true, but 

 I apprehend that it will prove to be more theo- 

 retical than truthful. My experience justifies 

 this conclusion. 



Mr. Downing recommends the application of 

 clay to the surface of the soil to extend from the 

 body to the extremities of the limbs, especially 

 on sandy soils where this insect is usually the 

 most destructive. He says he has never known 

 this insect to do any damage on stiff clayey soils. 

 Have any of your readers or you, Mr. Editor, 

 any information upon this point which can be 

 given to the public hereafter in your paper? 



Not long since 1 saw what was stated to be a 

 perfect remedy, which was merely an application 

 of soot, ashes and sulphur mixed in a given pro- 

 portion. This mixture was to be thrown all 

 over the trees and fruit early in the morning 

 while the trees were yet wet with the dew. I 

 tried it as directed and found that the wind and 

 rain soon washed or blowed it away. I derived 

 no benefit from it. The best remedy 1 know of 

 is to take some sheets, spread them out under 

 the tree, then shake or jar them off. They will 

 roll themselves up and drop upon the sheets 

 when they should be immediately killed. This 

 ought to be done twice a day at least while they 

 continue to deposit their eggs, which will depend 

 some upon the weather, say from two to four 

 weeks. Yet this is not a sure remedy, and most 

 severely taxes one's patience ; but it is the best 

 yet known. There are other remedies proposed, 

 but none of them are any surer than those of 

 which I have already spoken. 



What I have written thus far, Mr. Editor, has 

 been as I have suggested, to arouse the attention 

 of the fruit-grower to a patient consideration of 

 the matter I have written about. The plum may 

 be successfully cultivated in this State. The tree 

 is very hardy and very prolific. There are said 

 to be some trees in Massachusetts which yield an- 

 nually from twenty to thirty dollars worth of fruit. 

 It may become a source of profit to our State, 

 especially now when from the increased means 

 of intercourse we have almost hourly communi- 

 cation with the great towns and cities below us 

 from almost every part of the State. 



The only drawback to its successful cultiva- 

 tion is in the destruction of the fruit by the cur- 

 culio. How shall this be remedied, seems to be 

 the great question. I am satisfied it never will 

 be by the use of salt — nor by paving under the 

 trees — nor by any means yet tried ; but I am 

 much inclined to think that there may be a rem- 

 edy in the application of some offensive prepar- 

 ation thrown on to the trees which shall not kill 

 the leaves or fruit, or by some preparation which 

 being put into bottles and hung in the trees shall 

 continually send forth a disagreeable offensive 

 smell. The moth will not endure the smell of 

 the cedar. The chamomile plant is very offen- 

 sive to the yellow bug. All insects have a strong 

 repugnance to strong odors. Says Downing, 

 " The vapor of oil of turpentine is fatal to 

 wasps, and that of tobacco smoke to the green 

 fly." 



And so it seems to me that some preparation 

 which shall expel the curculio from the plum 

 tree may be yet discovered. I have thought the 

 more of this from the fact that the tree which 

 bore me some fruit when all the rest was de- 

 stroyed in 1847 had left under it a small heap of 

 fresh horse manure which must have emitted u 

 strong smell of ammonia for some time. Some- 

 where else have I also seen the fact stated that 

 an apricot tree which stood near a large heap of 

 horse manure ripened its fruit entirely Ciee from 

 the attacks of this insect, while all around it 

 were destroyed. Will ammonia or some am- 

 mor.iacal preparation prove so disagreeable and 

 offensive to the curculio as to drive it from the 

 tree on which it may be applied ? 



With these views as to the habits of this in- 

 sect and the prevention of its attacks and also 

 the suggestions made as to further trials for the 

 discovery of a full prevention, I most respectful- 

 ly call upon all your readers interested to care- 

 fully watch this insect the coming season for the 

 purpose of obtaining such knowledge of it as 

 shall tend to bring about the great desire of a 

 complete expulsion of it from all of our fruit 

 gardens. 



And now, Mr. Editor, you will permit me to 

 say, that having been a regular subscriber and a 

 constant reader of your excellent monthly from 

 the first number to the present time, I can safely 

 say that I know of no other agricultural paper 

 which ranks so high in my estimation as yours. 

 Of the highly creditable stand it has always ta- 

 ken in the diffusion of correct opinions and ex- 

 perimental knowledge of all thai was best calcu- 

 lated to promote the increase and expansion of 

 the vast and multiplying interests of agricul- 

 ture and horticulture, 1 think you may well be 

 proud. 



It has been said and truly said, that he who 

 causes two blades of grass to grow where but 

 one grew beftne, is a real benefactor of bis race; 

 but pre-eminent beyond comparison is his bene- 

 faction who by his pen, his money and his time 

 devoted to the cause, has induced thousands to go 

 and do even better. 



ASA P. CATE. 



Northfield, April 9, 1849. 



