Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-06-03
FARM AND GARDEN.
How to Fight the CIrcuIio.

Professor G. Y. Riley writes as fol-
lows to an exchange in regard to catch
ing this terrible pest:
Gould the history Of all the remedies
that have been proposed for the curcu-
lilo be written out in detail, 1t would
prove a serio-comic chapter of impos-
ture and credulity that would be as
surprising as diverting. Before the
true method of fighting the insect had
become generally known, fruit-growers
were ready to avail themselves Of any
thing that promised to lessen their
losses. The consequence was thatthey
frequently became the victims of I'M
scrupulous spectators, whose dishon-
esty was equaled only by their absolute
ignorance of the insect they proposed
to exterminate with their washes, solu-
tions, and patent nostrums. busting
the trees with air-slacked lime, smoking
them with tobacco, smearing the trunks
with gas tar and coal tar, encircling
them with loose cotton to eatangle the
beetles as they assembled or descended
the trees placing under them large
tubs of water, upon the supposition
that the instinct of the mother insect
would prevent her from laying eggs in
fruit which was in danger of falling
into the water and carrying to their
death the larvae it contained suspend
ing from the branches cobs that had
been soaked III sweetened water, in
which it was affirmed the insect would
deposit instead of in the fruit; all these
and many other equally ridiculous de-
vices have been tried, and heralded
as sure cures by those who have never
learned to connect effect with cause
The true method of fighting the insect
is to take advantage of its peculiar
instinct, which on approach Of danger,
and at the least jar, prompts it to fall
md to catch it by Earring the trees and
ringing the weevils down upon sheets
,.r large cloths spread for the purpose
f receiving them. The best way of
s.oing this, on a large scale, is to use
some portable, stretched sheet. DR.. E..
5. Hull, of Illinois, has earned the
lasting gratitude of fruit-growers by
ne ingenuity with which he has fought
this insect. He first built machine,
which was a sort Of inverted umbrella
On single wheel. 1t proved cumber-
some and awkward, and it's repeated
bumpings against the trees. in spite of
all precaution, very much injured them.
This old machine gave rise to several
notifications, one of which, devised by
L. NJ. Ward, of Michigan, is very sim
pie of construction, and has been
used with much satisfaction in that
state. But preferable to all other ma
chimes for this purpose, is the portable
one last devised by DIR. Hull. This
continuance consists of light cotton
stretcher, supported by broad bands
from the shoulders of the bearer, en-
aiding him to get close to the tree and
to give it sharp blow with a mallet
or hammer upon the butt of limb
that has been sawed squarely off
for the purpose, or upon shouldered
spike driven into the trunk, which by
this means is saved from injury. An
other way of capturing large mum bers
of the beetles is by what is known as
the Ransom clip process" first
brought prominently before the peach
growers of the country by Mr.. ". B.
Ransom, of ST. Joseph, Mich. The
process consists of laying close around
the butt of the tree pieces of chips or
bark, under which, according to their
instinct, a great many curculios Sc
crete themselves during the day, and
may thus easily be destroyed. In view
of the nocturnal habits of the insect,
the philosophy of the process is evil
dent, the beetles naturally seeking
shelter during the day, especially early
IN the season when the weather is
chilly, and before the females are much
engaged in egg depositlng. The cor
culo has some natural enemies and
tWo.genulne parasites which live within
It's body, but to enumerate them in this
connection would render this article
too lengthy, and the reader who desires
information about them should consult
late chronological works.
Spring Ailments of Farm Horses.
The changeable weather of spring
and early summer, says a veterinary
surgeon in an exchange, is greatly nro-
vocative of colds and rheumatism as
well as disorders of lungs in horses
Overheated by work, which at the be-
ginning of the season is more severe
than at other times, because of the pre-
vious resting stage, a cold rain occurs,
and, perspiration being interfered with.
waste matters deleterious to health are
retained within 4ba o;ro11 lot io,o o,J :