240 SUCCESSFUL FRUIT CULTURE 



fourth of an inch in diameter and makes crescent 

 shaped cuts on the fruit, h, in each of which it lays an 

 egg. The eggs hatch and the larvae, a, feed on the 

 fruit until it is destroyed, as at d, most of the fruit 

 falling off soon after being stung, though some will hang 

 on the tree until it colors and then falls. This insect is 

 especially destructive to the European and Japanese 

 plums. It often badly disfigures the American varieties 

 but the larvae do not generally mature in the fruit of 

 this group. 



Remedy — The beetle is sensitive to a sudden jar, 

 loses its hold and falls, and this habit is taken advantage 

 of to capture it by spreading a blanket or screen under 



the tree before jar- 

 ring. A curculio 

 catcher is found in 

 the market in the 

 form of an inverted 

 umbrella mounted 

 on a wheelbarrow- 

 like frame, as shown 

 in Figure 127. This is wheeled under the tree, the 

 branches are jarred by a padded stick or mallet, and 

 the insects caught in a tin can in the center of the 

 screen. This is a sure remedy if begun early in the 

 season and followed up every day for two or three 

 weeks, but is rather expensive. The remedy found the 

 cheapest by the writer is Paris green used with the 

 bordeaux as ])er the spraying calendar of the station for 

 the European varieties, but using the arsenate of lead 

 with the bordeaux upon the Japan and American sorts. 

 Plum Aphis (Aphis prunifolia) — This insect is 

 similar to the species that attack the pear and apple and 

 is controlled in the same way. 



San Jose Scale — See under the apple. 

 Peach Borer — See under the peach. 



Fig. 127— The Johnson Curculio Catcher 



