Prurfical  fliiifs  on  Fruit  Fannhn/. 
Cr2 
examination  of  infested  blossoms  a small,  legless  maggot  will  be 
found  in  them  feeding  on  the  stamens  and  pistils,  and  causing 
the  flowers  to  wither  and  decay.  The  weevils,' or  beetles,  j)ass  the 
summer  in  the  ]>erfect  state, 
living  among  the  leaves  of  the 
trees.  When  winter  comes  they 
get  into  chinks  in  the  bark,  or 
under  stone  and  grass  and  rub- 
bish around  and  near  the  trees. 
When  s})ring  commences  they 
crawl  up  the  trees,  and  deposit 
eggs  in  the  fruit  buds  by  boring 
holes  in  them  with  their  snouts, 
and  thrusting  the  eggs  into  the 
holes  with  stylets  or  ovipositors. 
If  the  weather  is  warm  and 
forcing,  not  much  injury  is 
caused,  but  in  cold  springs  when 
growth  is  retarded,  as  is  .so 
often  the  case,  .serious  harm  is 
done. 
If,  as  is  asserted  by  Curtis  and 
iSchmidberger  and  some  other 
entomologists,  the  female  weevils 
craw  l up  the  trees  to  lay  eggs  in 
the  blossom  buds,  the  bands 
smeared  with  sticky  comj)ositions 
used  for  preventing  Winter  Moths 
from  ascending  the  trees  will  also 
hinder  those  weevils  from  ascend- 
the  winter  in  the 
rass  and  rubbish 
Spraying,  as  a means  of  killing  or  starving,  is  not  available 
in  the  case  of  this  weevil,  as  the  larvfe  wdiich  do  the  harm 
are  ensconced  in  the  blossom  buds  and  cannot  be  reached.  As 
one  mode  of  prevention  it  is  desirable  to  spray  the  trees  in  the 
winter  with  a wash  composed  of  1 lb.  of  sulphate  of  iron  to 
one  gallon  of  wab'r,  thrown  up  over  the  branches  and  trunks 
w'ith  a powerful  engine,  to  kill  lichens  and  mosses  that  .serve  as 
harbour  for  the  in.^jccts.  In  Brittany,  where  it  is  most  trouble- 
some, the  fruit  growers  .scrape  the  trunks  and  branches  with 
scrapers,  and  brush  every  part  with  stiff  carj)et  brushes.  Cloths 
apple-blossom;  the  • . i • i 
buds  marked  a are  attacked  by  tbe  WlllCH  paSS 
weevil.  B,  the  Apple-blossom  Weevil,  1,,  <>• 
enlarsed.  The  natural  size  of  the  g‘OUUU,  or  in  ^ 
weevil  is  shown  on  the  left.  near  the  trees 
