266 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



have not discovered fresh punctures later than 

 the 20ih July; and I am inclined to believe, 

 that those which are seen later are of the new 

 crop, which have been disturbed accidentally 

 in the earth. 



I ascertained the increase of the curculio by 

 placing a male and female under a glass ves- 

 sel, and giving them one plum a da} for thirty- 

 six days. They deposited, upon an average, 

 about eight eggs per day, and' they ceased de- 

 positing them about the same time that the 

 punctures ceased upon the fruit on the trees. 

 They go through their chrysalis state in three 

 weeks after going into the ground, and remain 

 in a torpid state through the season unless the 

 earth is disturbed. I produced ten of the per- 

 fect insects, which are little black beetles, from 

 the larvae, and fed them until the 1st of January 

 with apple. The larvse which were in the 

 fruit were placed upon a surface of earth in a 

 glass vessel, and after eating three weeks, they 

 left the apple and bored their way into the earth 

 to the depth of three or four inches, and there 

 formed a little home, where they cast their skin, 

 and in about three weeks the perfect beetle 

 was formed; they lay dormant in this state, 

 until I disturbed them; some I took from the 

 earth the 1st of August and others on the 1st 

 of October. 



The mechanical performance of this little 

 beetle should not pass without notice. In mak- 

 ing her nest and laying her eggs in the fruit, 

 she exhibits an instinct that is truly wonder- 

 ful, — with her snout or proboscis she punctures 

 the fruit in the shape of a semi-circle, to the 

 depth of one-tenth of an inch, upon an angle 

 of about forty-five degrees; and then makes a 

 horizontal puncture, directly under the skin, 

 to the extent of one-tenth of an inch; she then 

 turns round and deposits her eggs, at the en- 

 trance of the horizontal puncture; after which 

 she again turns round, and, with her proboscis, 

 pushes home the eggs to the bottom of the last 

 puncture, and presses the flesh of the plum 

 against the skin, and holds it in this position 

 about ten minutes, until the flesh and skin are 

 knit together, for the purpose, as I suppose, of 

 preventing the egg from rolling out, and also 

 to protect it from a minute spider. The semi- 

 circular cut is made to provide for contraction, 

 as, if made straight, the skin would split and 

 the egg roll out. 



The curculio flies a great distance, and their 

 numbers are immense where there are plenty 

 of fruit trees. It is evident, unless some means 

 are taken to diminish them, that they will 

 eventually take all the fruit. I know of no 

 article that will scent them ofT. I placed a bot- 

 tle of spirits of tar directly under three plums, 

 and in a few days found the fatal puncture 

 upon them. The egg hatches in from five to 

 ten days, and the fruit may be saved by taking 

 out the eg°:,but the application of white wash, 

 by syringing the fruit, I consider the most 

 practicable, unless the experiment which I am 

 now trying answers the purpose — of syringing 

 the limbs before the buds break. To make the 



wash stick to the fruit or tree, I put in a little 

 glue. 



THE CODLING MOTH. 



The other insect to which I alluded is the 

 codling moth: this little moth deposits her egg 

 in the eye of the apple; they commenced last 

 year about the 15th of June, and were so de- 

 structive on my trees as to take about all the 

 curculio spared, and many of the Bartlett and 

 Passe Colmar pears. They are about all the 

 season, or until the middle of September. — 

 There are two or three crops of them: I pro- 

 duced them from the egg in about five weeks; 

 they were two weeks eating before they were 

 ready to go into the chrysalis state, and three 

 weeks before the perfect moth appeared. They 

 are a small gray moth, with a distinct mark 

 upon the hind part of the wings, of a brown 

 color, edged with copper; they do not extend 

 their wings more than seven-eighths of an inch ; 

 they are lively at night, and entirely at rest in 

 the day time, from which I infer that they fly 

 only at night. I have never been able to find 

 one upon the trees. After the egg has been 

 hatched, the worm eats to the centre of the apple 

 and then out at the side, and are the cause of the 

 wind- falls, or moth-falls. 1 saved a number of 

 apples by placing a piece of bees-wax over the 

 eye; but the plan, for practical purposes, is to 

 syringe the fruit with white wash ; this will fill 

 the eye, and thus prevent the moth from laying 

 her egg. 1 am happy to state, that I discovered 

 a trap for the larvas of this insect, by which an 

 orchard can be cleared of them with little la- 

 bor. Noticing two or three of the larvse creep- 

 ing upon a piece of cotton cloth which was 

 thrown accidentally into the crotch of an ap- 

 ple tree, my curiosity led to further examina- 

 tion, and to my surprise and pleasure, I found 

 thirty of the larvse in their silken homes, going 

 through their chrysalis state. They knit the 

 folds of cloth together with silken ties, and 

 there quietly change from the loathed worm to 

 the perfect insect, which is perhaps as beauti- 

 I ful, under a microscope, as any production of 

 the insect tribe. I again placed the cotton 

 cloth in the crotch of the tree, and examined 

 it in three weeks, and found another encamp- 

 ment of them in the same state, and hence 

 concluded they were quite in my power with 

 very little labor. The cloth should be placed 

 in the tree, about the 25th of June, and should 

 be examined every three weeks, as it requires 

 about this time to go through the chrysalis state; 

 in one or two seasons they must be destroyed 

 if this operation should be followed up. They 

 find their silken web very readily attach to the 

 little fibres of cotton, and by tying the cotton 

 cloth to the tree the wind will not disturb 

 them. 



There is still another insect which does 

 some damage to the foliage and fruit of trees. 

 The perfect insect is a long, dark, slender fly, 

 with long feelers and two steerers behind ; they 

 were found on the trees as early as the 15th of 

 March, mating; they lay their eggs in the 



