Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-12-03

any way of getting ont is left open. One
California frnit grower is aaid to have
counted $4,000 dead moths IN his fruit
house after keeping it thus sealed.
| 1t must be born in mind that this in
sect cannot be trapped as it will not
come to light or to sweet mixture so
| that ell such remedies, frequently recon
Eended, are merely labor lost. Nor does
it 60 into the ground but always con-
ceals itself in some sheltered spot to pass
its chrysalis stage. In its caterpillar
stage it is of course protected inside the
apple.
Lastly do everything to encourage the
inseotivorous birds, especially the wood
peoker. These are busy, working for
their living all through the winter and
thousands OF the chry salids of cdrpOcdpSd
fall victims to their hunger in the or
chsrds and gardens.
These precautions and general cleauli-
| ness, destruction of rubbish and all such
waste material are the most effective
means of keeping down this pest of our
al piles and pears and l do not doubt that
new orchard isolated from old infected
| ones could with care be kept free for
years from any serious loss by this insect.
| But if the apple-worm is troublesome
to the fruitgrowers, they may congratulate
themselves on the absence of another pest
which though less noticed and less known
is really q worse evil than the apple-worm.
| The plum weevil, so far as | have learned
and observed, is absent, or if present,
must be rare. Passing by the woefu
mischief that this little pest, often known
as the Curculi0, intlicts on the cherry and
the plum in the states farther east, it is
even more destructive to the apple, pear
and ounce. In the plum it attacks the
green fruit and destroys it before it
ripens. In the cherry it feeds on the
ripening fruit and fills it with dirt and
dust, 80 that every single cherry must be
examined before it is eaten or cooked.
But in the apple it burrows winding
gallery through the fruit, which becomes
later hard, bitter green line and must
be cut out, causing the waste Of great
part. More than this, the growth is in
terrupted and the apple is undersized,
gnarled and knotty. 1t is easy from this
description to see the extent of the mis-
chief and to this may add that frequent
" very large proportion of the apples
are thus injured and not unfrequently
more than one wound is found in a single
apple.
1t is singular case Of mistake instinct.
These eggs thus laid in the apple never
mature-the Larvae always dyipg-crowd-
cd out of existence apparently by the
rapid growth of the fruit. l say "never,"
because in every case that have ex-
amined this has proved true, but the late
<o1J Dh hap
con versing on the sub ject, that he thought
he recollected finding one or two living
larve in apples. This, however, only
shows how nearly "never" expresses the
truth.
What have said of the apple is true to
an almost equal degree of the pear and
q ulnce, and thus the fortunate New Mex
loan fruitgrower may congratulate him
self on his present exemption from the
ravages of conotrdchelns nenuphar.
EstO perpet1td.
If this were all it would be enough.
But more remains to be told. This weevil
pest after remaining for short time
under ground In the condition of a
chrysalis emerges about July as moth,
bnt does not reproduce until the next
spring. Through this interval it lives
and moves and has it's being at the ex-
pense of the orchardist. Inserting its
snout into the fruit it makes a microscopic
hole in the skin through which before
long the sporNe oe, rariope microbes
make their way, essec'ally the on4ni-
present bdcter5um teinto and decay at
once begins at the point of entrance and
spreads thence until the whole fruit is
Tn ypt
loss on the froitgrower in the fall equal
to that caused to the plum and cherry
crop in the spring.
Besides the above named source of loss
/ may also add that this pest is perhaps
the most difficult one to contend with.
Poultry and other birds will seldom eat
the hard-shelled beetle. Spraying with
poisonous liquids, though the best prac-
tical remedy, is but partially successful,
and jarriDg the trees over large sheet
is too troublesome for general adoption.
The abundance of the insect may be in
ferred from the fact that once by jarring
few cherry trees for several successive
mornings, I collected 1000 specimens and
then ceased counting them.
This article is already long enough, but
if it i'm presses on the New Mexican fruit
growers the wisdom of taking precaution,
by combination if necessary, against the
introduction of the insects spoken of
above and others here unnoticed, it may
be of some service to them. Already l
see in the orchards that Others such as
the pear.slug are only too numerous
while scale insects of various kinds will
certainly find entrance and be trouble
some. At present the quality and clear
appearance of the fruit must be very
great recommendation to any market to
which it can obtain admission, and l re.
gret that l was not in the territory in
time to see the exhibition of last Septem
ber. From the samples of fruit that I
have seen it must have been beautiful
and encouraging sight.