Some Enemies of tKe Plum* 



V. R. Gardner, Macdonald College. Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec 



WE have often heard it said that 

 "the poor are always with us." 

 Equally true in the experience 

 of the fruit grower is the statement that 

 "insects and fungous diseases are always 

 with us." There is hardly a cultivated 

 tree, shrub or vine that is not subject 



Fruit in BoTes, Showing the Proper Bilge 



to the depredations of some pest. The 

 annual loss occasioned by a single insect 

 or single disease often is enormous. 



iThere arc few fruits more subject to 

 the ravages of insects and diseases than 

 the plum and, unfortunately, its lead- 

 ing pests are among the most difficult 

 to control. In discussing the enemies 

 of the plum, I shall mention but one 

 insect and three diseases. There are 

 other insects and other diseases that 

 occasionally cause serious damage, but 

 these are the most common and most 

 important. 



PLUM CURCULIO 



Bv far the most destructive insect 

 attacking the stone fruits is the plum 

 curculio. This insect is the cause of 

 most of our wormy plums and cherries, 

 and also does some damage to peaches, 

 apples, pears and quinces. The adult 

 insect is a small beetle, an eighth to a 

 fifth of an inch long and half as broad. 

 These beetles appear in the spring about 

 the time the buds begin to swell and 

 for a while feed upon them. Spraying 

 with Paris green or some other arsenite 

 at this season is sometimes recommended 

 but generally gives little satisfaction. 

 Few of the beetles get enough poison to 

 kill them. Soon after the fruit has set 

 they commence to lay their eggs in the 

 young fruit. The female beetle first 

 punctures the skin with its long bill, 

 then deposits an egg in the hole thus 

 made, and finally completes the opera- 



.\ portion of a paper read at the summer meetins of 

 the Quebec Pomological Society. 



tion by making a semi-circular or cres- 

 cent-shaped incision about the wound, 

 this incision being a sixteenth to an 

 eighth of an inch from tip to tip. Be- 

 cause of this crescent-shaped incision 

 made in egg-laying, the curculio is 

 often called the "Little Turk." This 

 incision prevents the tissues of the fruit 

 from swelling and crushing the egg. 

 After "stinging" one fruit, the beetle 

 goes to another and repeats the opera- 

 tion. The e.gg hatches in a few days 

 and the young larva, or grub, burrows 

 about and feeds within the fruit. 



REMEDY FOR CURCULIO 



As the eggs are laid inside the fruit 

 and the young larvae feed there, no spray 

 can be made to reach them. It is pos- 

 sible, however, to prevent the eggs 

 being laid in the first place; and this 

 has been proven to be the only efficient 

 method of control. At night the beetles 

 become dull and sluggish, and if a tree 

 infested with them is tapped or jarred 

 in the early morning, many will drop to 

 the ground. If sheets are spread under 

 the trees before jarring, the beetles may 

 be collected and destroyed. Where 

 many trees are to be jarred it is most 

 convenient to stretch sheets or canvas 

 on a frame that may be carried from tree 

 to tree. With an apparatus of this sort 

 mounted on a wheelbarrow or other 

 truck, it is possible to jar quite a num- 

 ber of trees in a short time. The work 

 should be done in early morning while 

 it is still cool, as the beetles are less 

 active then, and jar off much more 

 readily than later in the day. 



^Jarring must be kept up during the 

 entire egg-laying season of the insect. 

 This usually lasts from three to four or 

 five weeks. It is a tedious, troublesome 

 task, but it is the price that has to be 

 paid for worm-free plums in regions 

 where this insect has become serious. 

 Fortunately there is only one brood 

 during the year. The affected plums 

 usually drop to the ground in the course 

 of a few weeks and the larvae crawl out 

 and burrow into the soil. Here they 

 remain for some time, later emerging as 

 full-grown beetles, to spend the winter 

 hidden in rubbish and in the spring lay 

 eggs for another year's crop. As they 

 enter the ground after leaving the wormy 

 fruit cultivation at this season of the 

 year, buries them so deeply that they 

 cannot get out, and thus materially aids 

 in their control. Clean culture, to de- 

 prive them of their winter quarters, is 

 also advised. 



Where a central packing house is used, 

 the fruit all being graded and packed by 

 experienced men, a more uniform grade 

 is obtained, and at much less cost, than 



267 



can be got by packing in the orchard. 

 Another great advantage is that a larger 

 quantity of one variety can be got to- 

 gether. All apple shippers recognize 

 the fact that long lines or the larger 

 number of packages of one variety 

 always sell for more than broken lots 

 or mixed varieties. — A. E. Sherrington. 



PacKing Apples in Boxes 



J. A. Webster, Sparta, Ont. 



Our apples are picked in bags and 

 emptied into boxes, which are hauled 

 on large, low, spring wagons to the 

 packing house at the corner of the 

 orchard. There they are packed. Can- 

 vas stretcher sorting tables and a cush- 

 ioned packers' table for four packers are 

 used. A box press and a nkihng bench 

 completes the outfit. 



As the apples come from the orchard, 

 the boxes are piled at one side of the 

 packing house. Sorters empty the ap- 

 ples on the sorting table and grade them 

 into No. I's, No. 2's and No. 3's. The 

 culls are placed to one side in baskets. 

 The baskets of No. I's and No. 2's are 

 emptied on the packers' cushioned table 

 in different compartments. 



The packer wraps the apples and 

 places them in the boxes in tiers. When 



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1 



A Well Packed Box of Apples 



full, he marks on the box the grade and 

 the number of apples that it contains. 

 The box is then taken to the press. The 

 press-man puts on the cover and cleats 

 and nails it. The variety of apple is 

 then stamped on the box. The boxes 

 are piled on the other side of the pack- 

 ing house, where they are ready to be 

 hauled to the station. 



