INSECTS AND DISEASES. 133 



about tlie middle of June, and kept on until the danger is 

 past, about the middle of October, will prove a complete 

 preventive. But if the borer had ali'eady obtained a lodg- 

 ment, or the eggs had been deposited before the tree was 

 bandaged, or the bandage was not impervious, it will 

 prove no protection, or, an insufficient one. 



If paper be used, it should be wrapped once and a half, 

 or twice, around the tree, so as to leave no place of in- 

 gress for the insect, and should extend two inches below, 

 and six above the ground, and be securely tied to keep it 

 in its place. It may be secured at the lower end by sim- 

 ply scraping away the dirt the required depth, wrapping 

 the paper around, and then drawing the dirt back, and 

 pressing it down firmly. The method of applying straw, 

 clotli, or other material, is the same. 



Akin to this remedy is that of scraping wp piles of dirt 

 around the tree, in early summer, and leaving them until 

 fall. This is on the same principle, and answers the same 

 end if well done, and constantly maintained ; but they 

 must not be permitted to wear away by summer showers. 

 Lime or wood-ashes are better than dirt for this purpose, 

 as neither is so liable to abrasion, and both are excellent 

 fertilizers. 



THE CUECULIO. 



This most destructive and dreaded of all enemies of fruit 

 has never much troubled our peaches on the Peninsula, 

 and consequently we have little practical experience or ob- 

 servation in regard to it. "We are thankful for our ex- 

 emption ; and ignorance, in this instance, at least, is 

 undoubtedly bliss. But in Ohio, and probably elsewhere 

 in the West, it has become very troublesome and injuri- 

 ous. The Curculio, Plum- Weevil {Mhynchcenus N'enu- 

 phar), is a small, dark-brown, winged beetle, with white, 

 yellow and black spots. It is quite small, never exceed- 



