THE APPLE-TREE BORER AND CURCULIO. 



BY AN INDIANA SUBSCRIBER. 



Cultivators of fruit, perhaps more than any other cla'ss of husbandmen, are 

 subject to more drawbacks and embarrassments than patience can often endure 

 without grumbling, and they are always glad to hear a suggestion which may, 

 " within the prospect of belief," be a remedy for any slight malady. That which 

 has led me to this communication, and which does very materially affect the cul- 

 ture of one of our most staple fruits, is the " apple-tree borer," which, instead of 

 decreasing with the advancement and demand of this important fruit, seems to 

 evade even the most scrupulous ingenuity of those who give him battle. I have 

 been thinking of a remedy which I am quite sanguine in the belief may be effectual, 

 and once done is done, and needs no more anxiety ; the simplicity of the thing, as 

 well as its economy,"will make it a good experiment for those who wish to try one. 

 If I correctly understand the nature of this pest, it is a merged moth (not very 

 unlike the one which infests the currant), which deposits her eggs under the coarse, 

 dead bark of the tree at its collar, near the ground, and the larvae, hatched from 

 these eggs, when sufficiently developed, commence the boring. Instinct has per- 

 haps instructed the moth that several advantages are secured in commencing so 

 near the ground. One may be the softness and succulency of the wood at that 

 point during the growing season ; another, she provides for her young a place 

 secure from storms, wind, and weather ; or, the peculiar habits of the moth may 

 be, to fly near the ground, and never ascend as high as the branches. Well, ivhat- 

 ever it is, we know that this is the place that the insect commences to depredate, 

 and, in viewing these peculiarities, I am of opinion that something like the follow- 

 ing would be attended with fair results as a remedy : — 



Prepare some boxes — say one foot or more in diameter, and eighteen or twenty 

 inches high (without bottom) — to be placed around the foot of the tree ; the 

 ground should be removed, so as to allow it to rest within an inch, at least, of the 

 roots (old trees, particularly). This box to be filled with ashes. I would not 

 try this upon young trees whose fibres had not extended more than three or four 

 feet from the trunk, though, even then, I doubt if it would be injudicious. The 

 result of this, I think, would be plain and efTectual. The borer certainly wouldn't 

 bore into the box, and the strong alkali would prevent his underminiug ; nor do 

 I think he would commence on top. Now, Mr. Horticulturist, if you can believe 

 with me that the borer will give up this "post of entre''^ as impregnable (and I 

 hope many will practically prove it this season) then I will be confirmed in my 

 hope that the enemy is conquered ; but if, as a last or final resort, the branches 

 and trunk are resorted to, I fear we will have to hang our harps on the willows. 



Mr. Longworth's remarks in regard to paving for the curculio, I deem well 

 worthy of special attention. If by paving with brick we can once more enjoy 

 the Green Gages, Washingtons, and Jeffersons, of ten years ago, then, I sny, pave. 

 One mustn't pave one, two, or three trees in a whole plum yard, and then con- 

 demn the system because it is not effectual, for any man of reasonable mind knows 

 that the curculio has wings, and can communicate with the whole yard in this way. 

 I think that it is herein that failures have occurred, and we hear it said : " 'Tis 

 no use to pave ; I've tried it." Some persons say: "It's too expensive." I'll 

 prove that it is not. Twelve feet around a common-sized tree, I think, would be 



fificient, and it would take some six hundred and forty bricks of the usual 

 it, which, at $5 per thousand, would be $3 25, and say 75 cents for 1 



