82 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



added. That makes a mixture that stays on the tree some 

 time. I dug away around the butt of the tree, and put it 

 on. thick from the branches down. Where I have used that, 

 I have not seen any more worms for a long time. At any 

 rate, they do not trouble me much now. 



Question. Does not digging holes into the tree have a 

 tendency to injure it? 



Mr. MoOEE. I do not think it injures the tree as much 

 as the borers do. If I had only the borers to contend against, 

 I would not borrow any trouble in regard to raising peaches. 



The older people in this audience remember when every 

 one could grow plums. They also remember that we had a 

 black wart that destroyed the trees, and the curculio that 

 destroyed the plums. It is a well-settled fact that the black 

 wart is a fungus: there is no doubt about it; the worm 

 theory is exploded. You may sometimes find the larvae of 

 the curculio in the soft bunch that comes out before the 

 wart turns black, but it is not caused by the curculio. The 

 difficulty seemed to be to get rid of that black wart. I think 

 that is mastered with a little care. I planted thirty plum- 

 trees about five years ago, and they have borne full the past 

 two years. I wanted to beat the curculio, which is very 

 plenty at my place, and I thought I could beat the black 

 wart: so I planted those plum-trees in my hen-yard, shut 

 the hens in, and they are bearing full crops every year. The 

 first two years I had two black warts. One of them came out 

 on the side of a large branch of the tree. I took my knife 

 and cut it out clean down to the solid wood. If you had them 

 on little branches, it would be better to cut the branches off. 

 I did not want to cut off this branch. The custom has been 

 this, in regard to the black wart. It has been treated as a 

 fungus; and the limbs where the black wart showed itself 

 have been cut off, and dropped on the ground ; and it has 

 been proved that that fungus will live right through the 

 severest New-England winter on the ground, and be ready 

 to propagate itself the next spring. There is only one way 

 to get rid of it ; and that is, when you cut off a black wart, 

 drop it in the stove, and then be very careful of the ashes, 

 and you are all right. I have thirty trees in one piece of 

 ground, planted five or six years ago ; and, for the last three 

 years, I have had no black wart, although there is plenty of 



