THE PLUM. 147 



preserved the fruit. But the best remedy among 

 the first class of expedients, and indeed one of the 

 most thoroughly effectual ever yet devised, is to 

 jar the insects from the tree upon white sheets 

 spread beneath, and destroy them at once by a 

 pinch of the thumb and finger. While lying upon 

 the sheet they may not be distinguished by the 

 unpracticed eye from the withered blossoms; but a 

 moment of attention obviates this difficulty. A 

 quick and sudden jar is important, and may be 

 given by the stroke of a mallet, upon the short 

 stump of one of the smaller limbs, sawed off for 

 this purpose, arid which prevents bruising the bark. 

 David Thomas, (who first proposed this method,) 

 in a communication to the Genesee Farmer, in 

 1832, says, "Not three days ago, I saw that many 

 of the plums were punctured, and began to suspect 

 that shaking the tree was not sufficient. Under 

 a tree in a remote part of the fruit garden, having 

 spread the sheets, I therefore made the following 

 experiment : On shaking it well, I caught five cur- 

 culios ; O7i jarring it with the hand, I caught twelve 

 more ; and on striking the tree with a stone, eight 

 more dropped on the sheets. I was now convinced 

 that T had been in an error; and calling in the 

 necessary assistance, and using a hammer to jar 

 the tree violently, we caught in less than an hour 

 more than two hundred and sixty of these insects." 

 The same successful cultivator has pursued this 



