AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGY. 39 



had it well broken up, and kept clean during the summer ; the 

 trees soon assumed a healthy appearance, and furnished a plenti- 

 ful supply of fine fruit, and the whole orchard is now in the most 

 flourishing condition, and I believe there will be no difficulty in 

 keeping it in that state." 



But my friend Mr. J. Grilliams, has certainly derived great 

 advantage from the use of the cinders of the common anthracite, 

 which is now so generally introduced as a fuel ; he opens a small 

 basin around the trunk of the tree, and fills it with the cinders ; 

 he informs me that the trees thus treated, have assumed a more 

 healthy appearance than others, and they are not at all infested 

 by this destructive insect. 



In Mr. Skinner's very useful paper, the American Farmer, 

 (vol. vi. p. 14,) are a few highly important remarks on this sub- 

 ject, by Mr. William Shotwell, of which the following is an ex- 

 tract : " I cleaned a number of trees, and put a coat of lime 

 mortar, about half an inch thick round the body, then drew the 

 earth up to it. These trees are now perfectly healthy, and there 

 has not been the sign of a worm about them since, although it 

 was five years past that the experiment was made. I have since 

 tried the same on a great number of trees with equal success." 



In the same work (vol. vi. p. 37,) are some interesting 

 observations on the preservation of peach-trees, by Mr. Evan 

 Thomas, Jr., from which we gather the following information. 

 On removing the earth from about the roots of some trees 

 of a sickly appearance, he observed a considerable quantity 

 of gum that had exuded from several minute apertures of 

 the trunk ; on opening these carefully with a knife, the larvae 

 were discovered. They were about one inch long, of a cream 

 color, the head somewhat depressed, chestnut-brown. " They 

 had perforated the bark about one inch below the surface 

 of the earth, and were devouring voraciously, both the alburnum 

 and liber, leaving the cortex and epidermis as a covering and de- 

 fence." Having destroyed these depredators, Mr. Thomas ap- 

 plied Forsythe's healing composition to the wounds, with the 

 expectation that it would not only exhibit its usual efficacy, but 

 that it would also prevent the access of a new colony of the 

 enemy. In this, however, he was disappointed, for on examining 

 the same trees again, at the expiration of about six weeks, he 



