102 



THE PLUM. 



of the stone. This causes the fruit to become diseased and it falls 

 prematurely to the ground. Within the plum the growth of the 

 larva is completed. It then goes into the ground and transforms 

 to the beetle and soon goes to the surface and escapes. 



Bemedy. — When the curculio gets alarmed it draws itself to- 

 gether and falls to the ground. Advantages are taken of this 

 peculiarity to catch and destroy it. A sheet is spread under the 

 trees and the tree and its branches are suddenly jarred, when the 

 beetles, which fall on the 

 sheet, may be gathered up 

 and destroyed. As it is im- 

 portant to catch as many 

 beetles as possible before any 

 mischief has been done, jar- 

 ring should begin while the 

 tree is in blossom, and be con- 

 tinued daily morning and 

 evening, if the insects are 

 abundant, for three or four 

 weeks, or until they become 

 very scarce. 



Another remedy which is 

 less laborious and has been 

 found very effectual is to 

 spray the plums as soon as the 

 fruit is formed with Paris 

 green in the proportion of one 

 pound to two hundred gallons 

 of water, and repeating the application at intervals of a week or 

 ten days until the ourculios disappear. If the weather is very 



showery three sprayings 

 may be necessary, but gen- 

 erally two is sufBcient. It 

 will be found that where 

 herjs with their broods of 

 chickens are inclosed with- 

 in the plum orchard that 

 they will devour a large 

 number of the larva of the 

 curculio. If hogs are kept 

 in the same inclosure as 

 the plum trees they will 

 pick up the fallen fruit 

 and so destroy a great 

 Fig. 17.— a, PaH nf.pluw, showing egg-punc- many of the larva. 

 ture, and location, of egg, from above; ^ 



b, section through egg-puncture, showing Plum Gouger. — The 

 ^9- plum gouger is a snout- 



beetle somewhat resembling the curculio, but readily distinguished 

 from it by a little careful axamination. It is about five-sixteenth 



Fig. 76 —^lum Curculio {^Vonoirache- 

 lus nenuphar.) a, represents the 

 worm; 6, the pupa; c, the perfect 

 beetle; rf, a plum showing the punc- 

 ture made in deposing the egg, and 

 the crescent cut. The hair-lines just 

 below a and c, and to the left side of 

 b, indicate the natural size. 



