DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



189 



Fig. 255. — Thomas' Simple Curculio^ 

 catcher. 



method altogether. Theoretically the poison spray should 

 kill many of the curculios, for there can be no question about 

 their feeding habits, as any one can soon convince himself by 



confining several in a box 

 with fresh fruits or leaves. 

 Many who have been 

 fighting this pest for 

 years are satisfied that the 

 jarring method is the only 

 way to circumvent it. Ap- 

 parently this method was 

 first proposed by David 

 Thomas, the father of the 

 author of this volume. In 

 a communication to the Genesee Farmer, in 1832, he said: 

 " Not three days ago I saw that many of the plums were punc- 

 tured, and began to suspect that shaking the tree was not 

 sufficient. Under a tree in a remote part of a fruit-garden, 

 having spread the sheets, I therefore made the following ex- 

 periment : On shaking it well I caught five curculios ; on jar- 

 ring it with the hand I caught twelve more ; and on striking 

 the tree with a stone, eight more dropped on the sheets. I was 

 now convinced that I had been in an error ; and calling in 

 the necessary assistance, and using a hammer to jar the tree 

 violently we caught in 

 less than an hour more 

 than two hundred and 

 sixty of these insects.'' 



Several contrivances 

 have been proposed for 

 spreading sheets under 

 the trees on which to jar 

 down curculios for the 

 purpose of killing them. 

 Thomas found nothing 

 better, and none so cheap 

 and quickly made, as the 

 contrivance represented in Fig. 255. In Fig. 256 is shown 

 a modern circular frame which can be made by any one 

 handy with carpenter's tools. It should be about ten feet in 



— Goff's Circular Frame for Curcu- 

 lio-catcher. (After Golf.) 



