FESTS 85 



Nuts 



N7ct Weevil {Balaninus niicuni). — This produces the 

 maggot famiHar in nuts. The weevil is brownish, 

 with a very long snout ; it is one-third of an inch in 

 length, and in early summer pierces the young nuts, 

 depositing one ^g^ in each. When full grown, the 

 maggot bores its way out of the nut, and buries itself 

 in the earth for the winter, changing into a chrysaHs, 

 and then into the weevil in the following May. 



Remedies, — Select a dull day, place tarred sacks or 

 boards on the ground, jar the weevils off on to these, 

 and then collect and destroy them. Spraying with 

 arsenate has been found to kill the weevils. 



Peaches 



Peach Leaf-curl {Exoascus deformans). — This is a 

 fungus attacking the leaves and shoots of peaches and 

 nectarines. The leaves become fleshy, puckered and 

 curled, turn yellow and reddish, and then exhibit a 

 " bloom " on the upper surface, this consisting of the 

 fruit of the fungus ; at the same time the shoots 

 become swollen and twisted, and do not elongate 

 properly, so that the leaves appear in bunches at the 

 ends of them. Cold, damp, variable weather in spring 

 is that most favourable for the disease. 



Remedies. — Remove the diseased shoots, and, in the 

 following year, spray with Bordeaux mixture or 

 emulsion {(ya, gb or gc) before the buds expand. 

 Caustic emulsion made with copper sulphate (io<:) 

 will not injure the trees while they are dormant. 



