THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



quately with poison. The only successful way of 

 dealing with him is to spread a very large sheet un- 

 der the trees, and then strike the trees with a ram- 

 mer, which causes the beetles to drop on the sheet. 

 They must then be quickly seized and destroyed. 

 They roll up their legs and pretend to be dead, but 

 begin motion again within a few seconds. The 

 rammer should be a stout pole, about eight feet 

 long, with the large end very thickly padded. 

 Holding the smaller end, ram the tree sharply, in- 

 stead of striking it. What you need is a sudden 

 jar, and not a shake. Care must, of course, be 

 taken not to bruise the bark of the tree. It will 

 expedite matters if your sheet is tacked at the sides 

 to light strips of wood, and is cut up the middle half 

 way, so as to admit the tree to the center of the 

 cloth. This contest must be kept up for about 

 three weeks, after which the plum crop is not only 

 safe from the curculio, but from nearly all other 

 depredations. I have found it quite easy to save a 

 large number of stung plums by going over a tree 

 and snipping out with the point of a pocket-knife 

 blade the crescent that contains the egg. This 

 must be done before the larvae start for the center 

 of the plum. Their progress after hatching is very 



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