THE PLUM. 



893 



tree. The egg deposited in each, at first invisible, has become a white 

 grub or larva, which slowly eats its way towards the stone or pit. As 

 soon as it reaches this point the fruit falls to the ground. Here, if left 

 undisturbed, the grub soon finds its way into the soil. 



There, according to most cultivators of fruit, and to our own observa- 

 tions, the grubs or larvae remain till the ensuing spring, when in their 

 perfect form they again emerge as beetles and renew their ravages on 

 the fruit. It is true that Harris and some other naturalists have 

 proved that the insect does sometimes undergo its final transformation 

 and emerge from the ground in twenty days, but we are inclined to the 

 opinion that this only takes place with a small portion of the brood, 

 which, perhaps, have penetrated but a very short distance below the 

 surface of the soil. These making their apj>earance in midsummer, and 

 finding no young fruit, deposit their eggs in the young branches of trees, 

 etc. But it is undeniable that the season of the plum- weevil is early 

 spring, and that most of the larvae which produce the annual swarm, re- 

 main in the soil during the whole period intervening since the fall of the 

 previous year's fruit. Plum-trees growing in hard trodden court-yards 

 usually bear plentiful crops. 



The modes of destroying the plum-weevil are the following : — 



1. Shaking the tree and killing the beetles. Watch the young fruit, 

 and you will perceive when the insect makes its appearance by its 

 punctures upon them. Spread some sheets under the tree, and strike 

 the trunk pretty sharply several times with a wooden mallet. The in- 

 sects will quickly fall, and should be killed immediately. This should 

 be repeated daily for weeks, or so long as the insects continue to make 

 their apjDearance. Repeated trials have proved, beyond question, that 

 this rather tedious mode is a very effectual one if persisted in.* Coops 

 of chickens placed about under the trees at this season will assist in de- 

 stroying the insects. 



Dr. E. S. Hull, of Alton, Illinois, has invented a machine for 

 catching the curculio on a large scale for orchard culture, but not having 

 seen it, we copy an extract from the Hearth and Home : 



" This is nothing but a gigantic white umbrella, turned bottom up- 

 ward, mounted upon an immense wheelbarrow, and split in front to re- 

 ceive the trunk of the tree which is to be operated upon. At the in- 

 terior end of the split in front is a padded bumper, which strikes against 

 the trunk as the operator wheels the barrow, first against one tree, and 

 then against another, and with two or three sudden jars fetches all the 

 insects off the boughs into the white umbrella, which gapes widely open 

 to receive them. Really, it is a most magnificent institution, but for its 



* Merely shaking the tree is not sufficient. The following- memorandum, as 

 additional proof, we quote from the Genesee Farmer : — ' ' Under a tree in a re- 

 mote part of the fruit-garden, having spread the sheets, I made the following 

 experiment. On shaking the tree well I caught five curculios ; on jarring it with 

 the hand I caught twelve more ; and on striking the tree with a stone, eight 

 more dropped on the sheets. I was now convinced that I had been in error ; and 

 calling in assistance and using a hammer to jar the tree violently, we caught, in 

 less than an hour, more than two hundred and sixty of these insects. " We will 

 add to this, that to prevent injury to the tree a large wooden mallet should be 

 substituted for a hammer, and it is better if a thick layer of cloth is bound over 

 its head. A sharp stunning blow is found necessary to readily dislodge the in- 

 sect, and as such, when given directly upon the bark of the tree, often causes a 

 bruise, it is found to be a good practice to saw off a small limb and strike the 

 blow upon the stump. 



