212 



Bulletin 176. 



believe any other odorous plant would give results more encouraging 

 to the peach-gi'ower, besides it would not be advisable to use them 

 in orchards for several reasons. 



(J) By 2fate7'ials Piled or Scattered m^ound the Base of the Tree. 



In 1806, Peters ^^ paved ^^ made piles of stones^ and used soot 

 around the base of peach trees without result against the borers. 

 This verdict seems to have been accepted, and with good reason, for 

 the preventive qualities of the methods are not apparent. 



Salt scattered in a circle around the base, slacked lime in a trough 

 in the soil, ?m^ flowers of sulphur were found of no value and were 

 discarded in the early half of the century. L'Hommedieu (1846) 

 tried a mixture of salt and saltpetre for three years without success, 

 but reports good results from use of air-slached lime j this has not 

 been the usual experience, however, with lime. A safe quantity of 

 kainit around the base of the tree offers no encouraging features so 

 far as effecting the numbers of borers is concerned {Ricral Nev) 

 Yorker for 1896, p. 533). Tanhark and screenings of anthracite 

 coal have been recommended, but they are not always available, and 

 would afford no more protection than so much soil. Ashes piled 

 around the tree have been often recommended since 1823, but all 

 who have reported their results offer no encouraging evidence. 



Tobacco. — In 1813, Cocke recorded successful results for several 

 years from binding cured tobacco around the tree at the surface of 

 the soil. Dey (1839) gives corroborative results, and tobacco has 

 since been frequently recommended. This evidence induced us to 

 test it. We wound " tobacco stems," obtained cheaply at a cigar 

 factory, thickly and close around the base of the tree from the roots 

 to a little above the surface of the soil. Our results are graphically 

 represented in the following table : 



1894-1895. 



