239 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEE. 



Aug. 



ground and are left with the old tools in their 

 hands. The old barshire plow has yet a place in 

 the corn field among this class, for they neither 

 read or listen to others. On the other hand there 

 is a class ever running after new things, with them 

 a thing must be new to have any virtue. The 

 reading, thinking farmer uses the best whether new 

 or old, and carefully examines the former before he 

 decides on its value. 



The Plum-Gouger— A New Foe of the 

 Plum. 



Eds. Prairie Farmer: — I long ago noticed that 

 besides the well known crescent shaped cuts made 

 in plums by the notorious Gorculio wherein to de- 

 posit its eggs, there existed in plums other circu- 

 lar holes which exuded gum like the cresent shap- 

 ed ones. It is only to-day, however, that I have 

 become aware that the round holes are made by 

 an entirely different insect, which, although like 

 the Curculio, it belongs to the great group of 

 Beetles known as Rhyncophoro or Snout-Beetles, 

 yet must be classed in a different genus of thst 

 group, and is a very differently colored and differ- 

 ently shaped animal. I find some of the Rock Is- 

 land plum growers, who are greviously infested by 

 this beast, mistake him for the true Curculio, and 

 I have no doubt the same mistake has been made 

 elsewhere in the Valley of the Mississippi ^ bpt in 

 the eyes of an entomologist they are as diSereht 

 as a cow and a deer. What is remarkable, this in- 

 sect is a new and undescribed species ; and from 

 the circumstances that my friend Dr. John L. Le- 

 Conte, of Philadelphia, to whom I sent specimens 

 in 1861, pronounced it to be "unknown to him," I 

 have little doubt that like so many others of our 

 noxious insects, it is peculiar to the Great West. 



As I have found it for many years back, not on- 

 ly upon wild plums but on the crab, I suspect that 

 it attacks apples as well as plums, as we know the 

 notorious Curculio will sometimes do. Its natur- 

 al history is doubtless the same as that of its rela- 

 tive, the littll Turk, for on cutting into the plum 

 underneath the round hole made by its beak, I. 

 have discovered the young larva in a vigorous 

 state in the burrow connected with the hole. It 

 seems to have one habit, however, that so far as I 

 am aware has not been recorded of the little 

 Turk : It bores into the plum not only to deposit 

 its egg, but also for food, forming thereby round 

 holes, open down to the very kernel, and varying 

 in size from a pea to a radish seed. Chas. Buford, 

 Esq., of Rock Island, informs me that he has found 

 these insects sitting upon plums plugged in this 

 manner, though he never saw them actually at 

 work making the hole. I have myself seen many 

 such holes, and have little doubt they are made by 

 this insect. Hence I propose to call it the "Plum 

 Gouger." 



If this insect would be kind enough to confine 

 itself to the above gouging process, our fruit-grow- 

 ers might forgive it ; for such wounds soon heal 

 over. But unfortunately the much smaller holes 

 in which its .eggs are deposited, cause the plum to 

 wilt and drop eventually, just as plums stung by 

 she Curculio do. The former is a mere superficial 



flesh wound, and nature soon repairs the damage ; 

 the latter gives birth to a larva or maggot, which 

 burrows into the very vitals of the plum, and the 

 result is death. 



After a careful examination of the plum trees of 

 A. F. Swander, Esq., of Rock Island, who first 

 called my attention to this insect as infesting the 

 tame plum, I am satisfied that full as many of his 

 plums are "stung" by the Flum Gouger as by the 

 Curculio ; and Chas. Buford, Esq., tells me that 

 upon his trees he finds considerably more of the 

 former insect than of the latter. Your readers 

 will confer a favor upon the fruit growing commu- 

 nity by informing them, through your columns, 

 whether both insects are found in their own local- 

 ities upon tame plum trees, and if so, in what pro- 

 portion, so near as they can guess. 



"But," some impatient bug-hater may perhaps 

 exclaim, "what is is the practical use of being able 

 to distinguish these odious vermin ? What can it 

 practically matter which of two bugs, equally ugly 

 and equally mischevous, are destroying my plums?" 

 Stop a bit, my impatient friend, if you are going 

 to sit with folded arms and quietly submit to all 

 the damage done you by bugdom, it is, as you say 

 of no earthly consequence to know anything about 

 the different species of bugs. But if you are going 

 to fight your insect foes, it is of the utmost prac- 

 tical importance that you should know which in- 

 sects do the damage, so that you may not kill your 

 friends, the cannibals instead of your foes, the 

 plant-feeders. Again, it has quite recently been 

 proposed to fight the Crucolio by cutting out the 

 egg with a pen knife, when, as is stated, the 

 wound rapidly heals over, and the plum grows and 

 ripens. Any one that undertakes this operation 

 will understand at once the practical importance 

 of knowing that he must cut out, aot only the cres- 

 cent-shaped slits, but also the round holes ; for 

 both, as I have shown, contain insects destructive 

 to the plum either in the egg or in the larva state, 

 "A word to the wise is sufficient." "i 



Benj. D. Walsh. 

 Many of our plums have been stung by this in- 

 sect, but we do not apprehend the injury from it as 

 from the Curculio. Last year our plums were 

 stung by it, but we did not observe a falling off of 

 the fruit. The fruit is now three fourths of an 

 inch long, and no signs of injury. We may be dis 

 appointed, but we have less fears of damage from 

 this insect than our friend Walsh. We have got 

 rid of the Curculio on our trees, which are loaded 

 with fruit, but if this new comer attacks us in this 

 underhand way, we shall be disposed io give up, 

 as he comes into our yard when the Curculio does 

 not show himself. We shall watch this new com- 

 er with unusual anxiety, and hope our readers will 

 do the same. 



^ 



Essay on Forest Trees. ^ 



To the Horticvlturalists of Tazewell Couniy: 



Gentlemen : The task you have imposed on me 

 is a very agreeable one. The culture of trees la 

 a delight to all well ordered minds. But it is not 

 every one that loves the culture of forest trees. • 



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