Peach-tree Borer. ' 217 



peach but on apple, plnin, apricot, pear and several shade trees, and 

 I killed every one of them. I even fonnd that I was not alone in 

 this regard, for there were many at our State Horticultural Society's 

 meeting who had done likewise. All our people wdio have tried it 

 have killed the trees, with but one exception. Of necessity, there- 

 fore, I gave up all hopes of ever thinking of coal tar, or even men- 

 tioning it, for trees, and now you have used it without injuring 

 the trees. How can this be ? It cannot be done here in Missouri, 

 I can assure you — not with our coal tar — and why I cannot 

 imagine. Our tar is made from soft coal, and I suppose your tar 

 is also ; but even if from hard coal, I do not see how that can 

 make the difference, and I cannot account for it in the climate, 

 etc. This is a puzzle, and shows the need of repeating the same 

 experiment in different widely separated regions of the United 

 States. 



" Again we differ in the effects of the washes of lime, etc., etc. 

 The wash I recommended is now used in many large orchards 

 with excellent results both as regards actual protection and retain- 

 ing qualities. It does not flake off here as it does with yon, and 

 it remains in working order ajnonth and a half to two months ; 

 it is not as perfect as the wrappers, to be sure, but it should be 

 used on the trunk and large limbs above the wrappers to keep the 

 borers out above. It surely does excellent work here, and part of 

 its better results in this State may be due to the fact that the trunks 

 of our trees are only a foot or a foot and a half high, that is, 

 peach and apple trees ; and they are thus protected from the rains 

 and the sun, wdiile the trunks in New York are very long in 

 comparison." 



We at once decided to continue our experiments along the lines 

 suggested in the above letter. And at our request. Professor 

 Stedman sent us some Missouri coal tar and some of his thin 

 wooden wrappers, shown in flgures 53 and 54. 



After first digging out the borers in our trees, we made the 

 applications on June 29, 1900, using the same care as in our 

 previous experiments to give each method the best possible 

 chance. Our trees now average from two to four inches in 

 diameter. 



