PACT NUMBER TWO. 33 



granulated and soft, or rather spongy. In the end, however, 

 as it continues to accumulate in matter and increase in bulk, 

 it becomes more porous, and in the course of two or three 

 years, generally bursts the bark, when the vitiated matter 

 runs out and turns to a dingy black. This therefore is com- 

 monly called the Black Bunch on the Plum Tree. 



But should the increasing matter at the diseased point, be 

 retained within the bark, it nevertheless continues tocorode, 

 and finally turns black, forming a kind of punky substance 

 which in the end destroys the limb, and in due course of 

 time, the whole tree, branch, body, and root. 



Aside from this insect, the plum tree has another enemy 

 to contend with, which, though less formidable, in point of 

 numbers, is sometimes quite as fatal. This is a species of 

 Black Bug, which springs from a darkish, grub-like-worm, 

 and is somewhere called the Carcula. It generally makes 

 its appearance about the time the fruit is one fourth or one 

 third formed, and though its tarry is not very long, it does a 

 good deal of mischief. It preys upon the fruit ; perforates the 

 delicate pulp covering, and propagates its species by deposit- 

 ing its eggs in the fleshy parts of the plum. The fruit thus 

 poisoned, soon feels the wound, and begins to wilt ; then 

 comes the rot, and the promised bounty finally falls to the 

 ground. During the progress of this untimely decay, the egg 

 becomes a worm which winters in and about the root of the 

 tree, and finally forms the following year's Black Bug. But 

 the ravages of this enemy, is not confined exclusively to the 

 fruit of the tree ; for, while in the form of a worm, he often 

 finds his way into the body or stem of the tree, rankling at 



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