420 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



among the first se\ out in our section which hear ten or twelve 

 bushels each ; they are probably about fifteen years old My 

 hundred trees which I grafted when I had so great confidence in 

 it will be in bearing soon, but my expectations in respect to them 

 have moderated considerably from what they were when I first 

 learned of the apple. 



On motion of Mr. Co*lburn, member from Kennebec county, the 

 thanks of the Board were tendered, by a unanimous vote, to the 

 people of Skowhegan and vicinity, for their hospitalities and 

 courtesies during the session, and the Board finally adjourned. 



Apple Tree Borer. 



In this connection I am happy to be able to present the follow- 

 ing communication from one of the most critical and patient 

 observers in the State, as well as one of its most skillful fruit 

 growers,* embracing some facts in relation to this insect, which, 

 so far as I am aware of, have not been previously published. 



3. L. Goodale, Esq. — Dear Sir : You request me to make some 

 statement in regard to the apple Tree Borer and its ravages. I 

 have watched the operations, and studied the habits of this de- 

 structive insect pretty closely for many years, but cannot say 

 much in addition to what was given in my paper on fruit culture, 

 published in your report for 1862. I have, however, since then, 

 noticed the exact time of its coming forth from the tree, in its 

 perfect or beetle state. They all seem to come out at the same 

 time, to a day, in the same year, but that time varies in different 

 years, according as the season is forward or otherwise. During 

 the last ten years they have once left the trees as early as the 

 'twenty-eighth of June. This is the earliest I have ever known 

 them to leave ; and once, the latest, on the eleventh of July, 

 but usually about the fifth of July. Probably the time varies, 

 also, in different latitudes. The length of time they remain in the 

 tree from the laying of the egg till the perfect, winged insect 

 leaves, is about two years and eleven months, running into four 



♦Among Mr. Currier's contributions to fruit culture may bo mentioned the origination 

 of new varieties of Raspberries ; Hybrids between the Antwerp and Cap families, in- 

 cluding many of high promise. So many are they and so marked are their peculiarities 

 from others, that 8ome years more of careful observation and selection are necessary to 

 prove which are the best of them, before introducing them to the public. 



