46 



with reddish brown, and the prolegs are pale yellow, with the fringe of hooks crowning 

 each, of a dark reddish brown. 



From Dr. Fitch we learn that " when ready to enter the pupa state the worm crawls 

 upwards to the surface of the ground, and there forms for itself a follicle or pod-like 

 case of a leathery texture, made from its castings, held together by dry gum and cobweb- 

 like threads. This follicle is of a brown colour, and oval in its form, with its ends 

 rounded ; it is about three-fourths of an inch long, and over one fourth in diameter, but is 

 variable in its size, being sometimes but half an inch long. Its inner surface is perfectly 

 smooth, and of the colour of tanned leather. It is placed against the side of the root, 

 often sunk in a groove, which the worm appears to have gnawed for this purpose, with 

 its upper end slightly protruding above the surface of the ground. But if the earth has 

 been stirred recently, so as to lie loose around the root, the worm will commonly form its 

 follicle an inch or more below the surface." 



A great variety of remedies liave been proposed by the numerous writers who have 

 treated upon this insect, but we think that the following extracts wUl give the results of 

 those experiments that appear to have met with the best success. 



Dr. Harris informs us " that the following plan, which was recommended by me in 

 the year 1826, and has been tried with complete success by several persons in this 

 vicinity, will eflectually protect the neck or most vital part of the tree from injury. 

 Remove the earth from the base of the tree, crush and destroy the cocoons and borers 

 which may be found in it and under the bark, cover the wounded parts with the common 

 clay composition, and surround the trunk with a strip of sheathing-paper eight or nine 

 inches wide, which should extend two inches below the level of the soil, and be secured 

 with strings of matting above. Fresh mortar should then be placed around the root, so 

 as to confine the paper and prevent access beneath it, and the remaining cavity may be 

 filled with new or unexhausted loam. This operation should be performed in the spring, 

 or in the month of June. In the winter the string may be removed, and in the following 

 spring the trees should again be examined for any borers that may have escaped search 

 before, and the protecting application should be renewed." 



Mr. James Worth, who i§ largely quoted by Mr. Thomas Say, writes : "The best 

 plan of guarding against the ravages of this insect which I have found, is to examine the 

 tree early in the month of July ; take a bricklayer's* trowel, and opening the gi-ound 

 around the trunk the lodgment of the insect will at once be discovered by the appearance 

 of gum, and it can be readil)^ destroyed. One person can thus examine more than a 

 hundred trees in le.ss than half a day, and very few, if any, of the insects will escape." 



Mr. C. V. Eiley, the State Entomologist of Missouri, in his first annual report 

 published in 18G9, gives yet another remedy, and one which appears to be so successful 

 that we cannot refrain from giving our readers the full extract. " I have had ample 

 occasion," he writes, ' to witness the effect of the mounding system during the summer 

 in several different orchards, and am fully convinced that it is the best practical method 

 of preventing the attacks of this insect, and that it matters little whether ashes or simple 

 earth be used for the mound. True, there are parties who claim that the almost total 

 exemption from borers in mounded peach-orchards is due, not to any special effect pro- 

 duced by the mound, but to the general rarity of the insect. But I have found no general 

 rarity of the insect wherever I have been in our own State, but, on the contrary, have 

 with difficulty found a single tree in any orchard that was in anywise neglected that did 

 not contain borers ; while I have found mounded trees entirely exempt. The following 

 paragragh communicated to the Westa-n Rural by Mr. B. Pullen, of Centralia, Illinois, 

 touciies on this point, and I can bear witness to the thrift and vigour of Mr. P.'s trees : 



" As spring will soon be upon us, I wish to add my testimony in favour of the 

 " banking system," as a preventive against the attacks of the peach borer. As to its 

 efficiency there can be no doubt, I have practised it for four years with complete success. 

 I would not advise its adoption until after the trees are fouryears old. Duringmo.st of this 

 period the bark is tender and trees are liable to be entirely girdled by even a single worm. 

 Safety lies only in personal examination and removal with the knife in fall and spring 

 (September and April). In April of the fourth year bank up to tlie height of from ten to 

 twelve inches, pressing the dirt firmly around the tree. A little dirt should be added 

 each successive spring : it is not only a preventive, but a great saving of labour." 



