The Peach-tkkk Borkr. 



235 



Gas tar. — Tar was among the tirst washes to be used against the 

 peach-tree borer, and several (Merriam and Meehan, 1859; '' J. K. 

 G." in Count. Gent., XXX, 14; and " K. H. S." in Rural New 

 Yorker for 1893, p. 622) have recorded that it was a iirst-class 

 preventive wash, and it did not injure their trees. Some, however, 

 have found that the tar injured or killed young trees. 



We used it as a wash for three years, heating it slightly so that it 

 could be more easily painted on, and applyhuj it to the same trees 

 each year^ with these results : 



1894-1895. 



The tar apparently kept out from four-fifths to all of the borers, 

 only a small percentage of the trees became infested, and no injury 

 resulted to the trees. These are the best results we obtained from 

 the application of an>' wash which did not injure the trees. Onr 

 trees had been growing for a year, and hence were well established 

 when the tar was applied ; we suspect some of those who injured 

 their trees applied the tar to unthrifty or recently-set trees. In our 

 c-xpei-ience the tar did not interfere witii the growth of the trees in 



