TWELVE] OUR RIVALS—THE INSECTS 
rapid, and when the stone is touched the plum 
falls. After this the larvae very soon leave the 
plum and enter the ground. After you have 
finished your fight with the curculio, it therefore re- 
mains necessary to look out that the dropping 
plums are gathered, to prevent the larve from 
escaping. 
The curculio not only attacks plums and cher- 
ries, but pears, quinces, and occasionally, when the 
stone fruits are scarce, it does a great deal of dam- 
age to apples. The codlin moth covers much the 
same field, omitting the plums. It damages fruit 
annually to the extent of $30,000,000. But it must 
be remembered that, if this moth did not destroy a 
portion of the stock, we should still have trouble 
from over-bearing, and from glutted markets. Our 
rivals, in other words, do a good deal of thinning, 
which could, however, be better done by ourselves, 
if we would. No one can have observed the apple 
trees during a very prolific year, without being sat- 
isfied that proper thinning will not be attended to 
by growers. 
Borers are to be fought at all seasons — especially 
in the apple and the quince and the peach trees. 
First cut around the hole smoothly with a sharp 
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