SECRETARY'S REPORT. 187 



which this insect and the remedies are so ably treated as to leave 

 little to say. I will add, however, that contrary to the common 

 impression, the eggs are sometimes laid at several feet from the 

 ground and not always near the ground. In an orchard near Ban- 

 gor I saw a tree the past summer on which, in a space of a few 

 inches, near where its largest branches started from the stem, not 

 less than twenty of these little grubs were found from eggs laid the 

 season previous. 



Dr. Fitch says, "A person visiting me a few months since re- 

 marked that he would himself be willing to pay me a hundred dol- 

 lars if, by my researches, I would discover some effectual method 

 of protecting apple trees from the borer. Without claiming the 

 reward offered, I informed him I had already experimented and 

 would give him the very remedy he wished ; if he would rub the 

 bark of Ms trees with soap the latter part of May each year I 

 would guarantee that not one of these borers would ever touch 

 them." 



Harris says, " The trees and shrubs principally attacked by this 

 borer are the apple, the quince, mountain ash, hawthorn, and 

 other thorns, and the Juneberry or shadbush. Our native thorns 

 and Aronia^ are its natural food ; for I have discovered the larvae 

 in the stems of these shrubs and have repeatedly found the beetles 

 upon them eating the leaves in June and July. It is in these 

 months that the eggs are deposited, being laid upon the bark, near 

 the root, during the night." 



Renovation of Injured Trees. 



The winter of 1856-1i was more injurious in its effects upon trees 

 in Maine than any other for a generation past. Not only were fruit 

 trees damaged extensively, but I have seen in various parts of the 

 State, beeches, maples, oaks and elms, which were killed outright. 

 Many fruit trees which survived the first shock succumbed in the 

 course of two or three winters following. Some yet survive, and 

 are mere cumberers of the ground. Let such be cut down, burnt, 

 and the ashes given to new orchards ; for the ashes of the apple 

 tree furnish precisely the inorganic matter which living apple trees 

 need to appropriate to build up their own structures. Many others 

 not only survive but seem to be gaining strength and vigor. It is 

 an important question what shall be done to assist them ? 



A question of the circular before referred to was directed to this 



