The season when the “little Turk” begins his destructive work on our
plum crop is at hand, and it behooves all growers of this fruit,
henceforward for several weeks, to make a vigorous onslaught on this
stealthy foe. Although the Plum Curculio has been so often described,
and is so well-known to the majority of our readers; still we find many
beginners in fruit growing who have not yet made its acquaintance, and
for their benefit we insert the accompanying figure, and give a brief
description of the insect. In figure 8, _a_ represents the larvæ; _b_,
the chrysalis, and _c_ the perfect insect, all magnified, the lines
alongside of the figures showing the actual size of these objects; while
_d_ represents a small plum, with the well-known crescent mark of the
insect, and the little beetle of natural size, crawling on the fruit.
The Plum Curculio is a little, dark-gray or blackish beetle, about
one-fifth of an inch long, with a rough, rugged surface, and having on
the middle of each wing-case a black shining hump, bordered behind with
a broad band of yellowish white; it is also furnished with a short
snout. When this little creature is alarmed, the snout as well as the
six short legs are drawn in close to the body, and the insect falls
suddenly to the ground, where it lies motionless, much resembling a bit
of dirt or a little dried up bud. In consequence of its peculiar
inanimate appearance when thus “playing possum,” it frequently escapes
detection; but when taken up between the fingers and placed on the hand,
it quickly manifests symptoms of activity, and endeavors to escape,
either by running or by flight.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
The beetle deposits its eggs, one at a time, just under the skin of the
plum, which is cut with a crescent shaped incision, deepened in the
centre, where the egg is deposited. Here the young larvæ hatches, and
eats its way into the fruit, burrowing about towards the middle, and so
affecting the vitality of the plum that it falls prematurely to the
ground, where the worm as soon as it is full grown escapes, and
burrowing under the surface shortly becomes a chrysalis, from which in
due time the perfect beetle emerges.
When a tree on which these beetles are working is suddenly jarred they
become alarmed, and fall to the ground, where they feign death in the
manner described, and by taking advantage of this peculiarity, and
jarring our trees in the proper season, the great bulk of these enemies
may be captured and destroyed, and a crop of plums secured. The proper
method is to begin early, that is, soon after the plums have set, and
repeat the operation daily for a week or more, and after that every
second day for two or three weeks longer, or as long as the insect
appears to be prevalent. Small trees should be jarred with the hand,
larger ones may have one of their lower limbs cut off, leaving a few
inches of stump, the end of which may be struck with a mallet; or a hole
may be bored in the tree and an iron bolt inserted with a large flat
head, which latter may be struck with a hammer or mallet. A suitable
sheet must be provided to be spread under the tree; one made according
to the following directions will answer the purpose well. Take nine
yards of cotton, cut it into three lengths of three yards each and
stitch them together, then take two strips of pine, an inch square and
nine feet long, and tack the two outer edges of the sheet to these
strips. Now tear the cotton sheet down the middle, half way, and it is
ready for use. By means of the strips this sheet can be readily spread
while the rent admits the trunk of the tree to the centre. Shaking the
tree will not do, it must be jarred with a sudden blow, and the insects
which fall on the sheet be picked up and destroyed. Morning and evening
will be found the most favorable times for this work, as the insect is
then less active than in the middle of the day.
Various other remedies have been suggested, many of them worthless, but
among the best of them, air slaked lime or sifted wood ashes thrown up
into the tree in the morning while the dew is on the foliage, or
thoroughly smoking the tree by burning coal tar under it. By any of
these methods the leaves and fruit are more or less coated with material
offensive to the insect, but we doubt whether the use of either of them
is so effectual as jarring, and since they require to be repeatedly
applied, we question whether they would not be more troublesome to carry
out than the jarring process.
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