288 



War/y Excrescence on Plum Trees. 



You may smile at a manoeuvre, which is to destroy an 

 almost infinitesimal egg, with an in- 

 strument made of a quill, like a tooth- 

 pick; but this the fruit-amateur will do 

 with pleasure, if thereby he can save a 

 plum on a new young tree, to test the 

 fruit of which he has been waiting pa- 

 tiently with hopeful anxiety. It is well 

 worth the while to do this on low trees, 

 in point of economy. 



It may be well to remark, that the egg 

 is deposited in the inner circle of the 

 incision, under a small discolored por- 

 tion of the skin of the plum, and the 

 operation consists in removing this dis- 

 colored portion of the skin, and scooping 

 out the egg with the instrument, {fig'- 

 28.) 



The desire which has been manifested 

 in the community to possess a knowl- 

 edge of this insect, the manner in which 

 he operates, and a means of destroying 

 him, must be my apology for thus far 

 prolonging these remarks. 



Warty or Black Excrescence. 



A communication from William Prince & Co., some few 

 weeks since, to the Editor of the N'eiv England Fctrmer, in 

 which a list of the kinds of plum is made out which, they 

 say, are not subject to the fungus or warty excrescences, 

 has induced me to state my opinion concerning the nature 

 of that disease. 



I do not remember to have seen that disease spoken of, 

 except in connexion with the belief that it is caused by an 

 insect ; and I believed it to be so produced, until observa- 

 tion proved to me that it was attributed to the wrong 

 cause. The reason any one would ofter as proof that the 

 disease was caused by the Curculio. is that its larvae are 

 sometimes found in this juicy fungus. 



There is one analogous reason for attributing this fungus 

 to the Curculio, or some insect: that is, the production of 

 galls upon the oak by the puncture of an insect, and the 

 depositing his egg in the puncture. But how uniform, in 



Shmeinff the method of 

 destroying the eggs 

 iriih a quill. 



