Middletown transcript., 1868-10-03


ration is early in the morning, when the
little creatures are sluggish from the chill
of the night. The insects are easily
caught and destroyed. This is rcpresen-
ted as most successful invention. Ger
tain conditions, however, are requisite.
The ground must be free from rank weed
and the trees must not be headed so low
that the curculio catcher cannot be run
under the limbs nearest the ground
Another plan which has been recon-
mended for getting rid of this nuisance is
paving the plum orchard. 1t has been.
noticed that plum trees grown in paved
city yards are not so liable to be attacked.
as those i'll the country. The reason is
obvious. When the stung fruit falls upon.
the hard pavement is soon withers, and
the larvae perishes, so there is no brood to
operate upon the fruit the following spring
Still another remedy consists in turning
hogs in upon the orchard in which plums
or peaches are grown. This plan, has
been very highly recommended lately
In the same journal already quoted we find
accounts of the success of this plan. This
plan is prospective. Its merits depend
upon the fact that the hog dcvours tho
fruit, larvae and all. so that the next years
brood is destroyed in embryo The hogs
pick up the wormy fruit as fast as it falls
and give no time to the eggs to hatch
This process does not apply to cherry
trees, as cherries do not fall to the ground
like plums and peaches when stung by the
curculios. We shall briefly state some of
the facts bearing upon this point recorded
by our chronological contemporary.
At Duquon there is an orchard con-
tanning nearly eighty acres planted in
peach trees. For the last five years hogs
have had the run of it. The second year
some fruit was stung, but since then the
orchard has been free from the insects.
The significance of this fact will be more
fully appreciated when w say that the gar
den, from which of course the hogs are
excluded, contains few peach trees,
which are badly stung. In the same
neighborhood another orchard has hail
hogs in it for one year, and is but little
troubled with the curculios. All other
peach orchards in the neighborhood are
nearly ruined, and there is scarcely Il plum
in the district.
In the neighborhood of Alton, Illinois,
large peach grower has been keeping
hogs in his orchard for five years. His
fruit is not nearly so much infested by tile
insect as that of his ncighbor, though lc
adopts no other prccaution. His trees are
also free from borcrs, though he takes no
pains TO worm tn III His hogs keep In
good condition ON the fallen fruit and its
animal inhabitants.
Another grower in the same. ncighbor-
hood has this year remarkable heavy
crop. SO far back as June his trees were
so loaded that he was obliged to prop up
the boughs, and the proportion of stullg
fruit was extremely small. In 1867 be
kept hogs in this orchard throughout the
sHmmer. lie attribHtcs his success to the
fact that during some frosty nights and
cold days in the spring of 1868, he Ike pit
up heavy smoke in his orchard, but that
could hardly account for his exemption.
Tie Cmf'y Gentleman speaks of a
crl iva'or who had heavy crops of plums
for seventeen years in succession, during
which entire time his hogs had the con
stant run of his orchard without single
seasons interruption.
This same plan is equally effective a
gainst the apple worm-the larvae of the
codling moth. Several instances are re-
corded of orchards which were infested
with these worms being entirely empticd
of them after keeping hogs in the grounds
for few seasons.
AS matter of course, if this plan is to
be successfully carried out, the orcha rds
must be separately fenced in, and not al
lowed, as is often the case, to form a part
of field, in which the animals may stray
to the detriment of other crops. Besides
this, the practice of cultivating other
plants between the rows of trees must be
abandoned. Nor can this modern fancy of
low-headed trees, branching almost from
the roots, be tolerated, for then the swine
could eat the fruit without difficulty from
the lower branches, and would, of course,
help themselves to that in preferencd to
the windfalls on the ground.
As to the hogs themselves, it is mi mi
fest that they must be kept moderately
hungry. A porker stuffed with corn il
more likely to lie down and sleep m del
the trees than to 60 foraging through the
orchard for wormy fruit, As well might
an alderman, after dinner of green tur.
tie, be expected to exert himself to sec ure
a supper of bread and cheese An en- PITY
stomach is II great promoter of industry III
man or beast. Perhaps the old fashioned
mountain breed of hogs, otherwise called
race-horse or backed stock, NIGH
prove the most efficient scavengers We
could employ. Their activity and indus
try are well known to all who have been
cursed with them on their plantations
They are the most indefatigable fora gers
in the world, and their appetites are wei
nigh Unsuitable. Still it is hardly to bt
doubted that any pig, kept below state
Of safety, will be contented to hunt his
dinner in an orchard. The experiment il
certainly we'll worth trying, and there il
| such n mass of testimony in its favor that