236 AMVODALUS PERSICA. 



side-shoots oxcopt four, until the tn-o rises to a lici^ht of about four feet. Augu. 

 1st. Add a small ([uautity <tf sand to the roots, as in the season before, in ordei 

 to prevent the lly, (yEgeria.) from depositing her eggs. 



TIURD YEAR. 



March 1st. Add more rand to the roots of the tree, and wash clean its trunk 

 with soap-suds or lye. INlay 15th, or as soon as the lieavy rains of spring have 

 ceased, cut otf in an obli([ue direction the central shoot of each tree, and leave 

 the lour lateral ones, reserved the year before, to remain for perniaucnt branches. 

 Loosen the ground with a strong fork, so as to admit the air without disturbing 

 the roots, and keep the surface clear of weeds during the season. August 1st. 

 Wash the trunk of the tree with soap-suds or lye, as in the spring before. 

 Loosen the sand about its roots, and add more, in order to guard against the fly. 



FOURTH YEAR AND SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT. 



March 1st. Wash clean the body and forks of each tree with soap-suds, lye, or 

 old urine. May 15th. Fork up the ground, and keep its surface free from 

 weeds. August 1st. Wash the trunk and branches as in the spring before; 

 and from this time forward, no other care will be required than to repeat these 

 operations, to prune off all superfluous and dead branches, and to guard against 

 the ravages of insects. 



The propagation of the peach-tree by grafting has not very generally been 

 practised, owing to the exudation of the gum at the wounded parts, and the jag- 

 ging of the bark when the cleft mode is adopted. The latter defect, however, may 

 be effectually obviated by cutting through the bark with a sharp instrument, on 

 each side of the stock, in the direction of the cleft intended to be opened. This 

 will render the bark smooth, and enable it to meet the scion with as perfect con- 

 tact as in grafting other kinds of fruit. This mode of propagation will often sav<e 

 a year's growth in a tree, particularly if the budding failed the autumn before ; 

 for the scions may be inserted in the roots any time from December till May, and 

 may be brought from a distance, and used with success, at a period, too, when 

 the cultivator is less busy than at the proper season of budding. 



Insects, Accidents, S)*c. The most destructive insect which attacks the peach- 

 tree, is a species of borer, {^geria exitiosa, denoted in the adjoin- --r-p.^^. ., ,i,i,i, ,, 

 ing figure,) first scientifically described by Mr. Say, in the third ^^"'^-'wi^-l^v~->'J*> 

 volume of the " Journal of the Academy of Sciences, of Philadelphia," and subse- 

 quently in his "American Entomology." A history of this insect is also given by 

 Dr. T. W. Harris, in the fifth volume of the " New England Farmer," and in his 

 " Report on the Insects of Massachusetts injurious to Vegetation." No notice 

 appears to have been taken of the pernicious effects of this borer before about the 

 year 1766, when it was observed by the late Judge Peters, that, in the neighbour- 

 hood of Philadelphia, the peach-trees began, nearly at once, to fail, and finally 

 perished. Whether their decay was caused hy the borer, then undiscovered, we 

 are at a loss to know. Many theories were advanced with regard to the nature 

 of the evil, and that offered by Judge Peters, although among the first, perhaps 

 was not the least rational. It was his opinion that trees, like animals, have 

 inherent diseases, or a susceptibility to receive those peculiar to their species, and 

 that of the peach seemed most subject to this tendency. Insects, he conceived, 

 were the cause of many injuries to trees, but were most frequently met with in 

 moibid parts, feculent or putrefying from previous malady, and were effects 

 rather than causes. The borer, however, was not discovered until several years 

 afterwards, when it was first noticed near Philadelphia, and was observed 



