The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1880-05-28

| neuralgia nerves are very sensitive.
How Michigan Fights Curculio.
THERE is no fruit of our Northern
States more delicious than the plum,
none more scarce, none more profitable
to raise. Yet the curculio has nearly
banished plum culture from our coun-
try. Notwithstanding the ravages of the
"Little Turk, however, several Michi-
gan Orchardists secure this crop annual
", with scarce failure. A few years
since one of our alumni, Immediately
upon graduation, engaged to labor for
an orchardist of Northern Ohio. Some
fine plum trees attracted his attention.
He asked if they raised plums. "Oh,
no"' was the response. "The trees
bloom full every year, but the plums all
drop off" He gained consent to fight
the curculio, and also gained a large
and profitable crop of this delicious
fruit. The curculio hibernates, and if
confined will live for years when prop
erly fed and cared for. 1t is nocturnal,
and early in the season hides under
chips. boards, ETC., by day, but later
remains in the trees in the day time, as
well as after nightfall. It stings the
plums from the time they set till cher
ries are ripe. In singing, it makes a
crescent-shaped cut about the puncture
where the egg is put. Upon Matching
the larva eats into the fruit, causing It
to fall prematurely. 1t also attacks
cherries, peaches, pears and apples, but
none of these last fall from the tree as
the result of attack.
Early in the season, if there are no
weeds, grass or rubbish beneath the
plum, peach or cherry trees (the dam
age to apples and pears will hardly war
rant effort to rid them of this enemv),
it will pay to lay pieces of board or bark
or chips beneath the trees. The bee
ties will hide beneath these traps by
day, and can be easily gathered up and
destroyed. Mr.. A. S. Dyckman, of
South Haven, Mich, whose plum Or
chard has been immensely profitable,
states that this method saves him three
hundred dollars annually over the old
method of exclusive Earring. Mr.. Dyck-
man uses oak bark, places two small
pieces beneath each tree, on opposite
sides near the trunk, with smooth sur
face down. He employs boys to gather
the insects, and pays them according to
the number they find. This insures
close examination. The curculios are
placed in an open bottle, closed by the
thumb of the one who is gathering
them.
Often the character of the orchard
precludes this method, and even when
practiced it needs to be supplemented,
late in the season, by the jarring or
sheet process. This is not expensive,
and often brings q tremendous profit
To practice this we have only to put
sheet-a white sheet is best-beneath
the tree and give the limbs a sudden
jar. The liGtle beetles, looking like
dried buds, fall to the sheet, when they
can be caught and killed. For few
trees the sheets can be tackled or
sewed to a cheap rectangular frame,
with q narrow slit on one side, so that
the trunk of the tree can be brought to
the center of the sheets surface. With
but q few trees, two persons can carry
this sheeted frame from tree to tree.
In large orchards it can be placed on
one or two wheels, where one person
can easily manipulate it. The mallet
should be of rubber, or else cloth
wound, SO that in striking the branches
they may not be injured. A sudden
jar is what is needed to fell the insects.
From several years. experience, know
that with caution no damage need be
done.
The trees should be Jared very early
in the morning, or Just before dark,
when the weevils are mostly in the
trees. The jarring should begin as soon
as the fruit sets. and continue as long
as the insects are caught. The fire.
quency of jarring, whether once or
twice daily, or less, will be indicated by
the success in catching the beetles.
Let all remember that these little
weevils are very small, and when they
curl up to fall, look like dried buds, so
that the inexperienced eye hardly sees
them. Look very carefully, or you will |
be deceived in thinking that you are
free from the pest, when, indeed, your
trees are fairly overrun. A brother of !
mine commenced a few years 400 to
raise plums exclusively for the curculio. |
Not thinking this profitable, he began
three years ago to use the sheet, and
now he has plums IS to sell and to keep"
Prof. a. J. Cook, Michigan Agricul-
turGl College, in N. =. Tribune.
AT late sale in Paris, a book by a
modern binder, Trautz- Bauzonnet, q
master of the art of inlaying, sold for
So, 200, of which at least 50, 20Owas paid
Sv,v oe Al