164 Bulletin 176. 



methods of preventing or controlling the pest. Thus this exercise 

 of the ingenuity of American peach growers for a century or more 

 has resulted in perhaps as many, if not of more, different schemes 

 to circumvent the ravages of the peach-tree borer than has been 

 devised for any other of our insect pests. 



And yet there are recorded but few thorough, scientific, extensive 

 and conclusive experiments with any of the methods recommended. 

 This fact led Professor Comstock to plan, several years ago, an 

 extensive series of experiments with many of the so-called " remedies." 

 A peach orchard of nearly 400 trees was set near the insectary in 

 1893 for the sole purpose of experimenting against the insect. Por- 

 tions of this orchard are shown in figures 52 and 53. These experi- 

 ments have cost much in time and labor, but no effort has been 

 spared to render the results reliable and as conclusive as possible. 



The principal aim of this bulletin is to record the results of these 

 careful and extensive experiments which cannot fail to be of direct 

 practical value to every peach grower. But to fight an insect the 

 most successfully one should know the details of the story of its life, 

 hence we have also aimed to make this bulletin a complete and up-to- 

 date compendium of information on all phases of the peach-tree borer. 



Its History and Distribution. 

 The peach-tree borer is an American insect, and has been found 

 only in the United States and Canada. The peach tree, a foreign 

 plant, had doubtless been in cultivation for a century or more before 

 we find any definite record of its being attacked by the borer. The 

 note quoted on the title page is the first reference to this insect we 

 have been able to find in the literature. This testimony of Kalm 

 (in 1749) would indicate that the insect must have attained a liking 

 for the peach tree about two hundred or more years ago ; and before 

 the middle of the last century, or a hundred and fifty years ago, it had 

 become a serious menace to the growing of this fruit in IS^ew York 

 State. Twenty years later the insect was recorded (Cooper, 1771) 

 as " prejudicial to the peach trees " in New Jersey. During the 

 first decade of the present century (1800-1812) it became a serious 

 menace to peach growing in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vir- 

 ginia, and many methods of preventing its ravages were tried. In 

 1823 it was common and destructive in Massachusetts and North 



