90 The Curculio. 



less undertaking to prevent their ravages, I, however, com- 

 menced shaking the trees with a sheet spread under, as 

 above mentioned, although too late to preserve any fruit. 



The year after coming upon the place, I had three acres 

 of the woodland thoroughly cleared, not leaving a single 

 stump or bush remaining. 'J 'his was some distance from the 

 house, and about the middle of fifty acres of dense forest, 

 extending beyond my boundary line. One half of it I laid 

 out as a kitchen garden, and planted in it some peach, phim, 

 nectarine, and other trees. A nectarine tree having attained 

 considerable size, bore a full crop of fruit for the first time 

 last summer ; but when they had increased to the size of a 

 large filbert, they were assailed by the curculio in such 

 numbers, that there were three or four punctures in each 

 fruit. They next appeared upon the peaches, the greater 

 part of which shared a similar fate. 



Now, the query is, where did they come from, in either 

 of the two cases mentioned, and how, in the last, find ac- 

 cess through the bordering wood, unless, as mentioned by 

 Dr. Burnett, they fly a great distance? This I believe to 

 be the fact, although at variance with the opinion of some 

 writers on this subject ; or if they originated in the garden, 

 is not the fact fully established, that the insect finds other 

 receptacles for its eggs than the fruit upon which they usu- 

 ally appear ? Then an important question arises, what are 

 these receptacles'? 



Since these facts conclusively show, that they are not 

 confined within a certain compass immediately around the 

 tree, but may range over any extent of country, and as we 

 are not certain that they propagate exclusively upon the 

 fruits in question, is it not fallacious to attempt their ex- 

 tirpation by destroying them in the grub or pupa state, 

 by any of the means heretofore recommended, — such as 

 saturating the ground some distance about the tree with 

 salt ley, burning the punctured fruit to destroy the ^^%. and 

 similar experiments "? 



Unless the plan of shaking the curculio from the tree, 

 can be made to answer the purpose more fully, or some 

 means devised to prevent it from coming upon the fruit, I 

 confess that I am at a loss for a remedy, as 1 believe are also 

 all your correspondents. 



Yours truly, &c. 



B, A. Fahnestock. 



Pittsburg^ Pa. February, 1844. 



