^9° DESTRUCTIVE INSECTS. 



diameter for large trees. Cover the whole frame with the 

 sheeting, after which cut it open along one of the wood 

 strips to the centre, where a small hole is cut to accom- 

 modate the trunk of the tree. The free edge of the cloth 

 flap thus formed is then tacked to a light strip of wood of 

 sufficient width so that it will cover the seam formed by 

 cutting the cloth and rest by its own weight on the frame be- 

 yond. 



In extensive Eastern orchards a wheelbarrow " curculio 

 cart or catcher" (Fig. 254) is much used. It is not found 

 necessary, as was formerly advised, to insert iron spikes into 

 the trees or to leave short stumps of limbs on which to strike 

 when jarring the trees. Long-handled mallets with the head 

 well padded answer every purpose and do not noticeably in- 

 jure the bark of the trees. 



The best time for jarring is in the cool of the morning, when 

 the insects are partly torpid with cold, and drop quickly. At 

 mid-day they retain their hold more tenaciously, and more- 

 quickly escape. The work should be commenced very early 

 in the season, as soon as the first fruit begins to set, or is not 

 larger than a small pea. It may be necessary to continue the 

 work every day for three or four weeks in some seasons. 

 Usually the cost of jarring trees in this manner a season is 

 from 10 to 20 cents per tree, which is a small amount to ex- 

 pend to ensure a crop worth many times as much. After being 

 captured on the sheets, the curculios may be destroyed by 

 throwing them into boiling water, into kerosene, or some burn 

 them in small charcoal furnaces. A few minutes' work is 

 often sufficient for many trees, and labor equal in the aggre- 

 gate to that of a single entire day may save large and valu- 

 able crops. 



The Plum Gouger {Coccotorus scutellaris). — In the northern 

 portion of the Mississippi Valley this insect is often equally 

 as destructive to plums as the plum-curculio, which it closely 

 resembles. The female gouger deposits her eggs in the young 

 fruit, making a round hole, but no crescent cut, and the grub 

 feeds upon the kernel of the pit, in which it also transforms 

 to the beetle. The rest of its life-story is much like that of 

 the plum-curculio. 



Poisonous sprays do not seem to check it, but otherwise it 



