APPENDIX. 385 



we succeeded in keeping out from one-third to one-half of the borers. This 

 wash will not remain intact long enoug-h in New York State, hence is is of 

 little value unless applied twice, which makes it too expensive a process. 

 We cannot see how Stedman's or other variations of Hale's wash could 

 afford any greater protection from the borers. 



Two applications the same season of a lime, salt and sulphur wash and a 

 resin wash gave little encouraging results to peach growers. 



A paris green and glue wash killed our trees in a few weeks. 



White paint proves to be quite an effective wash, keeping out from one- 

 half to five-sixth of the borers, but it may injure young trees, and we doubt 

 its proving as effectual on old trees. 



White paint and paris green, or green paint, is quite an effectual wash, 

 but it seriously injured our young trees, and is therefore not to be generally 

 recommended. 



The hydraulic cement wash, which has recently attracted considerable 

 attention, makes an ideal coating over the bark, but we did not succeed in 

 keeping out any borers with it, thus shattering another theoretical idea. 



Printer's ink, although it apparently kept out nearly one-half the borers, 

 injured our trees, and thus can not be recommended. 



Raupenleim and dendrolene kept out all of the borers, but killed all the 

 trees. 



Pine tar kept but a few borere out of our trees. 



Gas tar proved to be the best application we tested. We used it freely on 

 the same trees for three successive years without the slightest injury to the 

 trees, and it kept out nearly all the borers. We had been led to believe that 

 tar was very injurious to young trees, and confidently expected to see our trees 

 die each year after being treated with it. But the trees kept just as healthy 

 and grew as thriftily as any others in the orchard. Let the trees become 

 thoroughly established and get a year's growth, and it is our experience that 

 tar can be used with safety on them. Go slow with them, by first testing it 

 on a few trees in your orchard. We believe it will prove equally effective 

 whether the borers are dug out or not, and from no other application yet de- 

 vised would we expect to get such results when used independent of the 

 ''digging out" method. 



There are a few miscellaneous washes of very doubtful value. 



Some general conclusions regarding ivashes — Lime and some kinds of soap 

 are often the principal ingredients of washes. Our experience leads us to 

 believe that neither of these substances exercise any preventive effect on the 

 peach-tree borer. Furthermore, climatic conditions in New York and doubt- 

 less in most northern peach districts, will cause any wash containing much 

 lime to scale off and thus render it ineffective before the moths have stopped 

 laying eggs. Thus soap and lime or clay are useless ingredients, and lime 

 may seriously interfere with the effectiveness of a wash in moist climates. 



We do not believe a poison like paris green adds anything to the effect- 

 iveness of a wash, and it may prove a dangerous ingredient, as with glue or 

 white paint. The theory upon which the poison is supposed to work is a 

 wrong one. The newly-hatched borer does not deliberately eat its way 

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