Spraying for the Curculio. 73 



" A large crop of fruit was ripened on both parts of the or- 

 chard, and so far as could be judged from one field experiment, 

 it showed that spraying is as effective as jarring." 1 



The above experiments are the most exhaustive yet made, 

 and they seem to indicate that spraying for curculio is prac- 

 ticable on a commercial scale. They are all founded upon 

 the fact that the curculio does eat, a question which has been 

 decided in the affirmative by several entomologists of undoubted 

 authority. But it still remains to be determined how ex- 

 tensively the beetles feed before the eggs are laid, and if the 

 character of the season may not to a certain extent modify 

 the results obtained by the use of the arsenites. In Xew York the 

 practice is not regarded as being so efficient as spraying against 

 the codlin-moth is, and the older method of jarring the trees 

 is still considered to be the safest. S. D. Willard of Geneva, 

 N.Y., who grows many plums and is in a position to be well 

 informed regarding the practices followed, writes me that " the 

 majority of plum growers in this State are jarring their trees 

 instead of using any of the arsenical preparations to prevent 

 the working of the curculio." He uses the jarring method 

 entirely, in his orchards, and in the spring of 1895 apparently 

 saved his crop by jarring the trees twice a day, when spraying 

 with arsenites utterly failed. 



Professor W. J. Green, of the Ohio experiment station, has 

 been so kind as to inform me in regard to the attitude of 

 the plum growers of that State towards the use of arsenical 

 sprays : " I must say that opinions are divided on the subject. 

 The majority of those who have tried the method [spraying 

 with arsenites] on plum trees which were surrounded with other 

 kinds of fruit trees have failed, either wholly or partially. This 

 might be expected. ... On the other hand, those who have 

 sprayed orchards, leaving no trees, and doing the work 

 thoroughly, have generally been successful in saving the crops. 

 William Miller, Gypsum, Ohio, and T. S. Johnson, Port 

 Clinton, Ohio, will corroborate this, and I can name others 

 near them who have practiced the method several seasons, and 

 expect to continue. In my experience the curculio is more easily 

 controlled with the arsenites than the appleworm, but only in 



1 This experiment is recorded in Ohio Agric. Exp. Sta. Bull. 8, Vol. iii. Sept 

 1890, 225-228. 



