THE COUNTRY HOME [CHAPTER 
quately with poison. The only successful way of 
dealing with him is to spread a very large sheet un- 
der the trees, and then strike the trees with a ram- 
mer, which causes the beetles to drop on the sheet. 
They must then be quickly seized and destroyed. 
They roll up their legs and pretend to be dead, but 
begin motion again within a few seconds. The 
rammer should be a stout pole, about eight feet 
long, with the large end very thickly padded. 
Holding the smaller end, ram the tree sharply, in- 
stead of striking it. What you need is a sudden 
jar, and not a shake. Care must, of course, be 
taken not to bruise the bark of the tree. It will 
expedite matters if your sheet is tacked at the sides 
to light strips of wood, and is cut up the middle half 
way, so as to admit the tree to the center of the 
cloth. This contest must be kept up for about 
three weeks, after which the plum crop is not only 
safe from the curculio, but from nearly all other 
depredations. I have found it quite easy to save a 
large number of stung plums by going over a tree 
and snipping out with the point of a pocket-knife 
blade the crescent that contains the egg. This 
must be done before the larvee start for the center 
of the plum. Their progress after hatching is very 
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