14 
APPLE. 
weevils if it had been attended to a fortnight ago in the case of Apple 
bloom, and a month ago for Pears.” 
The above observations of date of the weevil attack, show the 
beetles to have been very active and plentiful by the 2nd of April, 
when the earlier Apple-blossom buds were beginning to show, and eggs 
to be found in the females later on in the month. Then there was a 
lull in the observations after the weevils doing the mischief had ceased 
to be noticeable, until the results of their work became observable at 
the beginning of June in the numbers of brown, and destroyed, 
blossom buds, with the beetles in chrysalis state within, from which I 
had specimens of the beetle sent on the 6tli and as late as about the 
12th of June. 
Prevention and Remedies. —One good method of prevention which 
has long been known is to clear away from beneath the trees clods 
and stones, and bits of wood, or rubbish of any kind which might 
shelter the beetle during the winter. Also to keep the bark in such a 
condition that there shall be no shelter for the beetles in crannies or 
under broken pieces. But the plan of getting rid of the pest “ whole¬ 
sale,” as may be done by shaking it down in embryo, in the destroyed 
buds, does not seem to have been much brought forward. 
Schmidberger noticed that where there were only dwarf trees in a 
garden, picking off the infested buds before they turned brown, that is, 
before the chrysalis was formed, answered perfectly and completely 
in preventing infestation for years ; but he did not allude to possibility 
of shaking down the destroyed buds, which would make the clearance 
applicable to larger trees. 
So far as last year’s experiments showed, the plan would answer by 
taking the time early in June, when the effects of the attack were so 
far advanced that many of the infested buds might be shaken down, 
but still the chrysalids within would not have completed their change 
to beetle state. This plan would be well worth following up as far as 
possible next year, and reporting on as to how far the buds out of 
reach can be made to fall by jarring. Of course they should be shaken 
down on cloths, and all that falls burnt, or the chrysalids would mature 
in the buds as well below as on the trees. 
The ordinary remedies of sticky banding, in case the beetles are 
found to be creeping up the trees, or of jarring to throw them down, 
are well known. In the latter case cloths smeared with something 
sticky should be spread below to prevent them getting away; or a hand 
apparatus, made simply of a piece of stout muslin or light cloth about 
two yards square, kept firm by a wooden rod or lath at each end, and 
one running lengthways and fastened to the centre of each end bar by 
way of a handle, would be useful. The handle or centre bar is only 
