THE POTATO-WEEVIL. 
81 
be given to the increase of the weevil. All the fallen fruit 
should be immediately gathered and thrown into a tight 
vessel, and after it is boiled or steamed to kill the en- 
closed grubs, it may be given as food to swine. Many 
of the grubs will be found in the bottom of the vessel in 
which the fallen fruit has been deposited. Not one of these 
should be allowed to escape to the ground, but they should 
all be killed before they have time to complete their trans- 
formations. The diseased excrescences on the trees should 
be cut out, and, as they often contain insects, they should 
be burnt. If the wounds are washed with stronc brine, 
the formation of new warts will be checked. The moose 
plum-tree (Primus Americana ) seems to be free from warts, 
even when growing in the immediate vicinity of diseased for- 
eign trees. It would, therefore, be the best of stocks for 
budding or ingrafting upon. It can be easily raised from the 
stone, and grows rapidly, but does not attain a great size. 
Among the many insects that have been charged with 
being the cause of the wide-spread pestilence, commonly 
called the potato-rot, there is a kind of weevil that lives in 
the stalk of the potato. The history of this little insect was 
first made known by Miss Margaretta H. Morris, of Ger- 
mantown, Pennsylvania. In August, 1849, her attention 
was called to this subject by Mr. Wilkinson, the principal 
of the Mount Airy Agricultural Institute, “ who discovered 
small grubs in the potato-vines on his farm, and naturally 
feared injurious consequences.” On the 28th 
of the same month and year, Miss Morris sent 
to me some specimens of the insects in a piece 
of the potato-stalk, wherein they underwent their 
transformations. They proved to be the beetles 
described by Mr. Say under the name of Bari- 
dius trinotatus (Fig. 41), so called from their 
having three black dots on their backs. This kind of beetle 
is about three twentieths of an inch long. Its body is covered 
with short whitish hairs, which give to it a gray appearance, 
li 
Fig. 41. 
