Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1911-07-06
(By FRED e. BROOKS. West Virginia
University Agricultural Experiment

tBy FRED e. BROOKS. West Virginia
University Agricultural Experiment
Station)
The plum cIrculio is a snout beetle
about one-flfth Of an inch long. Its
color is mixture of black, brown and
white, with the darker shades greatly
predominating. On the back are sew
eral prominent humps which give the
insect a roughened appearance and
make 1t difficult to distinguish while
on the tree from the bark or from a
! dry bud. 1t is armed with a curved
snout one-third as long as the body
The insect is a native of this coun-
try and Is distributed over practically
all the United States east of the Rocky
mountains. Before orchards were
planted within its range it undoubted-
ly fed and bred on wild plums, crab
apples and hawthorns, but with the
settlement of the country 1t turned its
attention more to cultivated fruits, al
though 1t continues to breed on the
wild, native varieties. 1t attacks plums,
peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries,
apples, crab apples, pears, ounces
and hawthorns,, and has even been re-
ported as breeding on persimmons. On
account Of the usual abundance of the
insect and the great variety Of valu-
able fruits which it attacks, there is
little doubt but that it has been right
fully designated as the most destruc-
tive of all the insect enemies of the
orchardlst in this section of the coun-
try.
1t Injuries the fruit by puncturing
holes through the skin with its snout
both for the purpose of feeding and
egg-laying. The feeding punctures
may be made in apples at almost any
time during the summer, but the egg
punctures are made mostly while the
apples are small. These wounds, and
the subsequent feeding of the larvae
which hatch from the eggs, cause the
fruit to become dwarfed in size, lop-
sided, knotty and otherwise mis-
shapen.
The injuries done by the plum cur
culio are not so easily prevented as
yet there are a number of methods
that can be used against them with
very satisfactory measure of success.
In dealing with the insect on apples
by far the most effective means of pre-
venting loss is spraying with one of
the arsenical poisons, such as paris
green, or, preferably, arsenate of lead |
Even where spraying is practiced, |
however it is a good plan to use In
with the operation some of |
the other measures suggested here, If |
the best possible results are to be OBJ
tanned.
The apple curculio has been con-
fused often with the plum curculio, but !
In reality it is quite distinct from that |
species in both appearance and habits.
The apple curculiO Is more reddish
brown In color, the form is more ro-
bust and on the back are four promi-
1ent humps, the front two Of which
are much larger than any Of the humps
IN the back of the plum curculio. The
,nout of the apple curculio is almost
rs long as the rest of the body, or
hree times the length of that of the
,ther species. The snout is carried
projecting forward, instead of hanging
lown like an elephants trunk, as Is
he case with the plum curculio.
In attacking the fruit the apple cur
.ulio bores through the skin, In a man
Ter similar to that of the other spe-
les. but after the puncture is com
,leted and the egg laid, only an indis-
met speck is left on the surface to
mark the place of injury, whereas the
.lum curculio makes the conspicuous
mark. A glance at the
Insects or at their work is sufficient to
nable anyone, who is at all well ac-
uainted with the species, to distin-
uish between the two.
Where the apple curculio becomes
care should be taken that
o thickets of wild crab or hawthorn