THE PLUM. 355 



Early in July the punctured plums begin to fall rapidly from 

 the tree. The egg deposited in each, at first invisible, has be- 

 come a white grub or larva, which slowly eats its way towards 

 the stone or pit. As soon as it reaches this point, the fruit falls 

 to the ground. " Here, if left undisturbed, the grub soon finds 

 its way into the soil. 



There, according to most cultivators of fruit, and to our own 

 observations, the grubs or larvae remain till the ensuing spring, 

 when in their perfect form they again emerge as beetles and 

 renew their ravages on the fruit. It is true that Harris, and 

 some other naturalists, have proved that the insect does some- 

 times undergo its final transformation and emerge from the 

 ground in twenty days, but we are inclined to the opinion that 

 this only takes place with a small portion of the brood, which, 

 perhaps, have penetrated but a very short distance below the 

 surface of the soil. These making their appearance in mid- 

 summer, and finding no young fruit, deposit their eggs in the 

 young branches of trees, etc. But it is undeniable that the sea- 

 son of the plum-weevil is early spnng, and that most of the larvae 

 which produce the annual swarm, remain in the soil during the 

 whole period intervening since the fall of the previous year's 

 fruit. 



There are several modes of destroying this troublesome insect. 

 Before detailing them, we will again allude to the fact, that we 

 have never known an instance of its being troublesome in a 

 heavy soil. Almost always the complaint comes from portions 

 of country where the soil is light and sandy. The explanation 

 of this would seem to be that the compact nature of a clayey 

 soil is not favourable to the passage or life of this insect, while 

 the warm and easily permeable surface of sandy land nurses 

 every insect through its tender larva state. Plum trees growing 

 in hard trodden court-yards, usually bear plentiful crops. Fol- 

 lowing these hints some persons have deterred the plum-weevil 

 by paving beneath the trees ; and we have lately seen a most 

 successful experiment which consisted in spreading beneath the 

 tree as far as the branches extended a mortar made of stiff clay 

 about the thickness of two or three inches — which completely 

 prevented the descent of the insect into the earth. This is 

 quickly and easily applied, and may therefore be renewed every 

 season until it is no longer found necessary. 



The other modes of destroying the plum-weevil are the fol- 

 lowing : — 



1. Shaking the tree and killing the beetles. "Watch the young 

 fruit, and you will perceive when the insect makes its appear- 

 ance, by its punctures upon them. Spread some sheets under 

 the tree, and strike the trunk pretty sharply several times with 

 a wooden mallet. Tke insects will quickly fall, and should be 

 killed immediately. This should be repeated daily for a week. 



