THE AMERICAN 



liide under from around the tree, and made tlie 



soil isniooth Cor a rouplooffccl avound (lie collar; 

 I tluMi imt a fi'W iiiccoi.n.aik.ciirli iw o or lliroe 



to (lie tree. In a few li(riii-s 1 wciil and cxaininod 

 Miem. Ah I there tlio pests were hid ! I en- 

 larged the mimher of traps. Yes, I liad the 

 fellows usiiii;- mv houses, as well as eating mj- 

 fruit! I cleared' mv orchard under the trees: 

 made siuoolli two »v llireo_ feet of llic -nuiud 



i.f oM leather. slone>— anvlhiiin- lo i;ive' them 

 slielter— near tlie hult. Tl'ic eiiriny can be al- 

 iaeked in his haliilal. (ioaround an \- lime in the 

 dav. turn the traps over, and llieiv llic iiests are 



I (lav (Itl'li) it was liol. (.)nii(t 

 lol (lav. and nexl niorninii'. In 

 .-live trees. 1 killed 1.U4.S (Jnrculi 



Thewi 

 and thi' 

 killinu- o 

 about >c> 

 in. just i,uv liour. 



t lia\e told my neighbors, and some of them 

 are deslro\inn ll'ieir Cnreiilios in the same man- 

 ner. Mr.' j'. AVliilllesev llii> mornin-. from 

 under about two linnihv<l iivo. Kill.'d l'..M I in 

 about two hour.-. In cool wcallin- I lind few. 

 but during' the tirsi w arm days lhe> swarm. Let 

 this method be unitedly tried, and we can save 

 our fruit. AV. B. Kaksom. 



St. .Joseph. Mieb, 31ay ](i, '70. 

 We are really sorry to damp the ardor and 

 enthusiasm of any person or persons, when 

 enlisted in such a good cause, but truth obliges 

 us to do so nevertheless. Of course, Curculio 

 extermination is possible ! but not by the above 

 method alone, as our Michigan friends will find 

 to their sorrow. For a short time, early in the 

 season, when the days are sometimes warm and 

 the nights cold, and before the peach blossoms 

 have withered away, we have succeeded in 

 capturing Curculios under chips of wood and 

 other such sheltered situations; but we have 

 never been able to do so after the fruit was as 

 large as a hazel-iuit, and the Little Turk had 

 got fairly to work. Our Michigan friends will, 

 we fear, find this to be too truly the case. 



This process, furthermore, cannot well be 

 called a discovery, because it was discovered 

 several years ago, as the following item from 

 Moore's Bural Kew Yorker, of January 28th, 

 1805, will show: 



llow TO C.4TCH CiKcui.io. — 111 May last we 

 had occasion to use some lumber. It was laid 

 down in the vicinity of the plum-yard, and on 

 taking up a piece of it one cold morning, we 

 discovered a number of Curculios huddled to- 

 gether on the underside. On examining other 

 boards we found more, so we spread it out to 

 see if we could catch more, and we continued 

 to find more or less every day, for two weeks. 

 We caught in all one hundred and sixty-one. 

 So I think if people would take a little pains 

 they might destroy a great many such pests. 

 These were caught before the plum trees were 

 n fiower. What is most singular is, that we 



u,ever found a Curculio on a piece of old lumber, 

 although we put several pieces down to try 

 them. They seemed to come out of the ground, 

 as we could find them several times a day by 

 turning over the boards. Mus. If. Wikk. 



JOHNSONVILl.E. N. Y. 



But though Mr. llaiisom can not properly 

 claim to have made a new discovery, and though 

 this mode of fighting will not iirove sufficient to 

 EXTKUMiN.VTK tbc Curculio, yet we greatly ad- 

 mire the earnestness and pei'.-everance which he 

 has exhibited. In denionstraiiiig that so great 

 a number of the little pests can be entrapped in 

 the manner described, Mr. K. has laid the fruit- 

 growers of the country under lasting obligations 

 to him. It is a grand movement towards the 

 defeat of the foe, and one which, from its sim- 

 plicity, should be universally adopted early in 

 the season. But we mu>t not relinquish the 

 other methods of jarring during the summer, 

 and of destroying the fallen fruit; for we repeat, 

 that the Plum Curculio will breed iu the forest. 

 We are fast becoming perfect masters of this 

 stone-fruit scourge. Ah-eady, Ihrougii the kind- 

 ness of Dr. Trimble, we have been enabled to 

 breed several specimens of the first and only 

 true parasite ever known to infest it; and, by a 

 series of experiments now making, we hope, 

 Deo volente, to be able to definitely clear up 

 every mooted point in its history before Nature 

 dons another wiutry garb. 



P. S. — About a week after the above article 

 was in type, we found the following in the 

 columns of the St. Joseph Herald of the 28th 

 May : 



At a meeting held on Moiidav, the 23d inst., 

 atBeiitcm Harbor, Dr. LeBaioi'i. State Entomo- 

 logist of lllinoi-. said: ■■The objed for which I 

 came to Benton Harbor wa< to Collect some of 

 the insect- for future exaniinalicni. I wish to 

 secure anil take home -onie of ilii> larva' to rear 

 and oliMTve their hal.ii-. Fi-oiu Ihe habit of the 

 curculio Liailieriiiu under c!ii)i-. not having been 

 obserxi'd in Souiliern lllinoi-. I thought they 

 mighl l.eaiicw kind. I'.oide- tlic phini' or peach 

 curculio. lliere i- anolher kinil called Ihe apple 

 curculio. which we Ihouuhl niii^ht he the one 

 von are lakinu'. Yel tlnMlitlercnee is so slight 

 that we have not been able to discover which it 

 is. I shall lake some hoiiii' and carefully com- 

 pare them. 1 \vould he i;lad if any of the audi- 

 encewould -end nie Ihe larvicofaiiy new insects 

 they di-co\ci . w iih the leaves on which they are 

 found, lor examination." 



Dr. Hull, of Alton. Stale Horticulturist, .said: 

 They had heard of the new discovery, and had 

 come over lo in\e-livale the cnrculio. He had 

 never before heard, and knew nolhinu' "f tills 

 mode of de-lindion. ami w a- -nrpri-ed and 

 gratified. It A\a> i(riainl\ a ureal discovery. 

 lie thought il conid nol he Ihe iiliini curculio, 

 which he once Ihoughl were itieiuical. until Dr. 

 Walsh sent him his specimens and made clear 



