214 EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



the stages are passed. I have not found a single instance where the wood has been 

 penetrated. 



" Queenston, March 13. — I examined the trunks of the trees, as you sug- 

 gested, on a sunshiny day and found beetles crawling with their wings set for flying. 

 You know, ordinarily th°y do not appear as if they had wings, and those I saw had 

 their wings out ready for use. I will try the alkaline wash, and the first wet day we 

 have when the gum is soft, I will try the brush and emulsion. I believe that, unless 

 these beetles are checked in some way, they are likely to be very troublesome and the 

 cause of much loss to peach growers, as they undoubtedly, to my mind, will destroy the 

 trees unless interfered with." 



"June 1. — The peach-bark beetles I have been doctoring with linseed oil. I 

 covered the entire trunk. The first tree, which you saw, to which I applied it, seems as 

 thrifty as any one of the others ; it is full of fruit. To two I applied the coal oil ; 

 one of them around which I placed a cloth to cover the trunk, at your suggestion, 

 is dying ; the other, left exposed, is all right. This contains instruction, I suppose. 

 Those to which I applied the whitewash, have not been free from attack. The linseed oil 

 and coal oil trees have not been bothered since. I shall let you know later how the 

 trees get along, and the beetles also." — C. E. Fisher. 



I visited the orchards of Mr. Fisher and Captain Sheppard on April 16th last, just 

 before the buds burst, and found that the beetles were very active and crawling over 

 and boring into the bark in large numbers ; but no eggs nor larvae were found then. 

 Young larvae were found in the breeding jars in my office at Ottawa early in June, from 

 which the perfect beetles emerged in large numbers in the last week of July and into 

 August. I am of the opinion, although I failed to trace it this year, that there is a 

 second brood from eggs laid in August, which matures before winter and hibernates as 

 perfect bettles in the bark. I have found perfect beetles in the bark from November 

 till April, young larvae in June, pupae in July, perfect beetles by July 27 and through 

 August. 



In a letter to the Rural New Yorker, Mr. Slingerland, of New York State, 

 says : " Eggs have been found in May and July, larvae and pupae in July, adults in 

 April, May, July, November and February." 



On the appearance of the summer brood, the following letter was written to Mr. 

 Fisher : — 



"Ottawa, July 27. — Quite a number of Peach Bark-borers have appeared to-day in 

 the breeding jars. This would look as if the eggs laid this spring had now matured and 

 a brood of beetles was issuing from these eggs. Will you please examine your trees and 

 see if the beetles are not abundant on them just now, running over the bark and sinking- 

 fresh burrows 1 It was supposed that there is only one brood in the year, but the above 

 would certainly look as if there were two, at any rate. I notice that the beetles are 

 pairing, and I imagine eggs will be laid and another brood mature from these eggs this 

 autumn, and pass the winter in the bark, where they will remain until next spring. 

 Please give me your opinion on this."- — J. F. 



" Queenston, Oct. 15. — Those little Peach Bark-borers have been working 

 woi^se than ever. First, about the treated trees : Two I treated with pure coal oil ; I 

 covered the trunk of one with a sack as you suggested ; it died first ; the other followed 

 suit about two or three weeks later. The one treated with linseed oil died also, but not 

 until the fruit had about half come to maturity. Those I treated with whitewash and 

 whitewash with Paris green, lived, but became infested with the beetles again after the 

 wash was partially carried away by the rain, and did not do well at all ; in fact, they 

 look so bad that I have decided to take them all out and burn the trunks. I treated a 

 large number of trees with the boiled linseed oil, covering the trunk entirely of some of 

 them, of others only in places where beetles had secured a lodgement. All these trees 

 were treated, you remember, after the season was more advanced than when the first 

 one was treated. Those that were healthy, did not seem to be injured by the oil. They 

 passed through the season as well as those with no oil application. Some that were 

 sick, succumbed quite early in the season. I think they were unhealthy at the start. 

 You will gather from this what my conclusions would be. A healthy tree would stand 



