332 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



OTHE CURCUIilO. 



Mr. R. H. Phelps, of Windsor, Ct., after care- 

 fully observing the habits of this great enemy of 

 the fruit-grower, some time since, announced in the 

 Homestead his conviction that the black knot or 

 wart on plum trees is caused by the curculio, and 

 is one of the mediums by which it perpetuates its 

 species. Previous experimenters and observers 

 had demonstrated the fact that the brood which is 

 hatched from eggs deposited in plums and other 

 fruit, instead of remaining dormant until the next 

 year, as had been supposed to be the case, came 

 from the ground in some tkree weeks after leaving 

 the fallen fruit, perfect insects. And here, so far 

 as we are aware, our knowledge of the history of 

 the curculio ends. How do this second generation 

 live ? how do they perpetuate their race ? and what 

 becomes of them ? are questions that have been 

 asked, but not satisfactorily answered. Mr. Phelps 

 believes that, "as the second brood finds no place 

 for propagation after the fruit has fallen, it resorts 

 to the bark of the tree, and there deposits its 

 eggs." To meet the inquiry, how do the grubs 

 hatched in the knots, reach the ground ? which 

 might be asked by those who regard the falling of 

 the fruit as the natural way of descent for those 

 bred therein, the writer says : "They pass down to 

 the ground by a thread which they spin in their de- 

 scent, while those in the plum pass into the earth 

 after the fruit drops." He does not say that he 

 has witnessed such descent — he barely states the 

 fact, and then adds : "The last brood of the season 

 remains in the ground in the larva state thi'ough 

 the winter, and I now have specimens which can 

 be examined by any person. One of them in par- 

 ticular has taken a notion to spin its cocoon di- 

 rectly between the glass of the goblet and the 

 earth which it contains, affording a lucky chance 

 for observing its operations." 



Mr. Phelps calls attention to the facts that the 

 black knot is seldom or never found upon the body 

 of a full grown tree, or where the bark is hard 

 and thick, but chietly on the branches and tender 

 twigs, where the insects can easily puncture, and 

 that a far greater number of knots make their ap- 

 pearance on the tree the latter part of the season, 

 as strong presumptive evidence of their being 

 caused by the curculio. Maggots or grubs have 

 beeii noticed by others in the black knot, but 

 whether as cause or effect has not been positively 

 known. Mr. Phelps found in a single knot forty- 

 eight grubs, and is very certain that most contain 

 more than one e^^Q or larva. That these are em- 

 bryo curculios he is quite positive, for reasons 

 which we give in his own words : 



"On the 28th of June last, I took several worms 

 from the knot of a plum tree, and put them in a 

 cup of soil in a warm place, and in 19 days from 

 that time one of them turned into the chrysalis or 



pupa ; in a few days more it cast off its skin, and 

 passed from a chrysalis to a perfect weevil or cur- 

 culio. This specimen had been disturbed so often 

 in examining it, that it formed no cocoon for its 

 transit. In every other instance, the gi'ub formed 

 a cocoon by continually turning and tM'isting its 

 body, thereby making a cavity adapted to its size 

 by gluing together the particles of dirt with a gum 

 or web from its mouth, with which it lined its cell, 

 in which it changes from the larva to the chiysa- 

 lis, and thence emerges the perfect weevil or cur- 

 culio, and ready to begin its depredations. The 

 difference in the period of its change appears to 

 depend upon the maturity of the worm, as in some 

 instances they changed under my own eye in one 

 day after entering the earth. The time occupied 

 in this transformation to the chrysalis was only 

 about one hour. On the 23d of July some worms 

 taken from a plum, and others from a knot on the 

 same limb, Avere put into two separate pans of 

 earth, and each labelled. One from the plum 

 changed to the chrysalis the 26th, and two from 

 the knot the 27th. These grubs were precisely alike 

 in appearance, being about three-eighths of an 

 inch long, of a yellowish white color, and with yel- 

 low heads. Later in the season they incline more 

 to a reddish color. The pupa is of a perfectly 

 white color, almost tnxnsparent." 



This theory affords some grounds for the hope 

 that, by the seasonable destruction of these un- 

 sightly excrescences, we may diminish more or 

 less the numbers of an insect which threatens to 

 prove the worst enemy the fruit-grower has to 

 contend with. In common with plums, our apples 

 and pears suffer by the ravages of the "first brood" 

 of curculios ; but as the branches of these trees 

 show no black knot, how is the race perpetuated 

 in our common orchards ? 



PROTECTING ANIMALS FBOM STORMS. 



I believe that farmers, generally, are not aware 

 how much loss they sustain in the flesh of their 

 domestic animals, and how much they suffer du- 

 ring cold storms of rain in the summer, or at any 

 other season of the year. Warm showers never 

 injure animals ; indeed, they appear to have a 

 good relish for such a sprinkling as they frequent- 

 ly get, providing it is not as cold as ice. Most 

 animals will endure ])retty severe cold as long as 

 they can keep dry ; but as soon as their bodies 

 have been wet and kept wet, evaporation com- 

 mences. And as evaporation is a cooling process, 

 the heat of their bodies is carried away very rap- 

 idly ; and the sudden transition from heat to cold 

 chills them in a very short time, and injures them 

 more than a severe storm in Avinter. 



Animals will endure a very sudden change from 

 cold to heat, with impunity ; but sudden changes 

 from heat to cold are often attended with very in- 

 jurious consequences. We are apt to think, be- 

 cause it is summer, or not freezing weather, that 

 a storm of rain will not hurt our animals. But 

 could they communicate to us their feelings du- 

 ring a storm of cold rain, there would not be so 

 much negligence about protecting them, especially 

 during the cold and stormy days and nights of 

 autumn. 



