89 



effective method for controlling this insect. This is very 

 thoroughly sprayed over the tree through a fine nozzle, just 

 before the blossoms open. In some cases repeating this treat- 

 ment just after the blossoms fall has also been advisable. 

 Where this is the case, the nicotine sulfate can be combined 

 with the arsenate of lead "calyx cup" spray to advantage. 



The Plum Curculio. 



This well-known pest of plums, peaches and cherries injures 

 the apples also, and sometimes quite seriously. In the spring 

 while the apples are small the adult beetle, or curculio, makes 

 holes in the skin of the fruit here and there, and in each 

 places an egg. It then cuts a crescent- 

 shaped slit in the skin so as to partially 

 enclose the hole containing the egg. 



It is not probable that many, if any, of 

 the young which hatch from these eggs are 

 able to develop in the apple. The effect of 



, , , . IT,,. 1 Plum curculio. 



the puncturing and slitting, however, upon 



the fruit is to produce unsightly scars and blemishes, besides 



injuring the pulp of the fruit near these places, making it hard. 



In late summer and fall the curculio also injures the apple, 

 but in a different way. At this time it eats into the apples, 

 making small holes an eighth of an inch or more d^ep and 

 about an eighth of an inch across. The skin and flesh around 

 the edge of this hole turn black, and the value of the apple is 

 greatly reduced. 



To prevent or at least check the work of this insect on 

 apples, the two sprays recommended for the codling moth are 

 of value. If the curculios are abundant though, an additional 

 treatment with arsenate of lead, nine or ten weeks after the 

 blossoms fall, is of advantage. Measures for controlling this 

 pest on the other fruits it attacks will of course reduce the 

 number of these insects, leaving fewer to cause trouble with 

 the apples. 



