THE CULTIVATOR 
Experiments with the Curculio. 
Messrs. Editors —As an old subscriber to your pa¬ 
per, I take the liberty to give you my experience of 
the manners and habits of the plum-destroyer, the cur¬ 
culio, and I wish to say that The Cultivator has had 
no small share in bringing about my great success in 
saving my plums from their destruction. 
I began at first by transplanting two trees of the 
Washington. They grew finely and blossomed freely, 
but I could get no fruit, for when about half grown 
they dropped off, and continued so to do from year to 
year. After many years’ disappointment in this way, 
I prepared myself for the battle, with the determination 
to come off conqueror, which the sequel will disclose. 
I furnished myself with a cloth three yards by two, 
of the cheap white cotton, and a stick about three feet 
long with a piece of an old rubber shoe fastened to one 
end to strike the tree or limbs, if large. Equipped 
with these materials, and a small boy to hold two cor¬ 
ners of the doth, I held one in my left hand, and the 
other I fastened around my neck with a string. I took 
the stick to jar the trees in- my right hand. I contin¬ 
ued to destroy them in this way, from time to time, for 
some four or five weeks ivith a good degree- of succes*s, 
until I had slain more than fourteen hundred of these 
destroyers, on about one dozen trees. I likewise caught 
some curculios on a few cherry trees near by, for I 
found they were not very particular whether they were 
plums or cherries. The result of this labor was, I had 
two bushels of fine plums from my Washington trees, 
and all my other trees bore profusely. I have contin¬ 
ued this practice of destroying these insects, and have 
saved my fruit ever since, until the present time. But 
the best part of my story is, this 'plan has worked so 
well that I have comparatively little labor to perform, 
as they have mostly disappeared from my garden. 
My plan is to begin to- search .for the insect when 
the plum is about as large as a marrowfat pea, and 
continue to take them as long as they are plenty, 
which generally lasts about three weeks; but they do 
their work of destruction mostly in- a very few days. I 
have known them to destroy more fruit in one warm 
still day than all the rest of the season together; but 
as we know not when they get fully organized to do 
their mischief, we must watch for them. I search my 
trees twice or three times a week at first, but as they 
grow plentier I search the oftener, and at the time 
they are to be found in the greatest numbers, oS j 
over my trees two or three times a day. There is no 
danger of them in windy -weather,, that is when it 
blows quite fresh ; and in cold rainy weather they 
move but little. I have never seen them fly far, yet I 
believe they emigrate some, but comparatively do 
little damage if we are-faithful to look after them and 
destroy them. 
I say understandingly, that if any man will spend 
two minutes’ time, on an average, for each tree in a 
season, he will surely save his fruit. In fact, I have 
faithfully jarred two hundred trees, when the insect 
was plenty, in twenty minutes, my son holding the 
watch while I with a small boy performed the opera¬ 
tion. After I have gone round my trees, I open my 
cloth and destroy the bugs with thumb-and finger, 
which has proved very effectual. I have tried all nos¬ 
trums of the day and found them ineffectual. I have 
taken the worm from the plum, when but a few days 
old, and placed him in fine salt, in strong brine, in 
vinegar, and the like, and examined him with a good 
glass for some time, but he would not die until the ap¬ 
plication of thumb and finger, which has always proved 
efficient. 
I believe I have killed more trees with salt than in¬ 
sects. 
Last year my crop of plums would have been from 
75 to 100 bushels, if it had not been for the heavy 
rains in August and September, which caused many 
of them to crack and rot on the trees. 
I send you the number of insects taken each year, 
from 1847 until 1853. I could have told you how 
many I took each day if I thought it to have been in¬ 
teresting, for I have day and date of every day’s work. 
In 1847 I began operations June 1st, and ended July 14th, 
ami caught, on about a dozen trees, 1,421 curculios. 
1848— May 15th to June 28th, caught.... 945 do. 
1849— June 4th to June 29th,. 975 do. 
[This year, 1849, I had some 50 trees come into bearing.] 
1850— June 3d to June 26th,.. 209 do. 
1851— June 3d to June 25th,..... 229 do, 
1852— June 4th to June 24th,. 320 do. 
1853— June 1st to June 16th, .. 864 do. 
This year, 1853, I had quite a number of trees that 
came into bearing in a part of my garden where plums 
were never raised before, which probably was part of 
the cause of my taking so many more this year than 
the year before, and another reason I think was the 
mild winter of 1853, which was favorable for them, as 
they were more plenty throughout this region than for 
some years before. I believe that, until a way is found 
out to exterminate them entirely from our gardens, the 
jarring plan will be found the most effectual, simple 
and economical way to destroy this little, but formida¬ 
ble pest from our gardens. 
Before concluding, I wish to inform you how I cul¬ 
tivate my plum trees. My plan is to set them twelve 
feet between the rows and six feet in the rows, and 
prune severely and cultivate highly. By so doing, my 
trees are not large, but full-of bearing wood within 
two feet of the ground, and from six to eight feet 
high, and I have every advantage in reaching for and 
destroying the curculio, which you will find to be the 
saving of a good deal of time, and on such trees you 
will have more and finer fruit than on larger ones. I 
prune my plum trees in July,, and have a second 
growth the same year. Yours respectfully,. J ohn Par¬ 
sons, Jr. Roekport , Mass ., Feb ., 1854. 
Sheep-Skin Mats. —These are prepared by stretch¬ 
ing the fresh skin, well furnished with a coat of wool, 
with the wool-side down, by means of tacks at the 
edges, and then rubbing the skin well with a powdered 
mixture of equal parts of common salt and alum—re¬ 
peating the operation twice afterwards, on the two fol¬ 
lowing days. It should remain exposed to the air, but 
not to the sun, till well dried. 
