71 



i?7hicliwhen at rest are "bent between the forelegs. — 

 It makes its appearance during the month of April 

 und commences its destructive operation soon after 

 the blossoms have fallen and the young fruit is form- 

 ed. It flies from the ground into the tree. This oc- 

 curs sometime during the month of May. It contin- 

 ues its depredations until August. By examining the 

 young fruit in districts where the curculio w^orks small 

 semicircular punctures may be found. These punct- 

 ures are the ^-crescent-shaped msignia of that little 

 Turk, the curculio." In each of these, an egg, so small 

 as to be invisible to the eye, is deposited. In July 

 the egg is hatched and becomes a small white grub or 

 larva, which eats its way to the stone. This causes 

 the fruit to fall. The larva works its way out of the 

 plum and into the ground. Here it remains in the 

 chrysalis form until it emerges in the spring a perfect 

 beetle. In some few cases it has been proved that it 

 comes out in about twenty days after it entered* But 

 this is supposed to arise from not having worked its 

 way into the ground but a short distance. No plan 

 as yet has been devised by which we can entirely rid 

 ourselves of this pest of the plum tree. Strong and 

 powerful odors are very offensive to most insects.—^ 

 Some have been successful in raising crops of plums 

 after years of disappointment, by smoking the irtrees. 

 This is done by taking a pan of coals and putting up- 

 on them leaf tobacco, scraps of leather, brimstone, 

 &c., and holding them so that the fumes may ^ass 

 through the foliage. This should be done freqiieiitly 

 from the time the plum forms until it gets out of the 

 way of the weevil. Some build up fires near the 

 trees and partly smother them so that the smoke will 

 arise during the whole day. Others syringe the trees 

 with strong' scented solutions, such as tobacco w^ater, 

 solutions of whale oil soap, and we think that a very 

 weak solution of Kreosote from its strong smoky 

 scent might be useful. Care should be taken that the 

 ^Bolutions are not so strong as to injure the leaves,—- 



