194 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PEACH. 



Remedies. — Several remedies have been proposed to meet 

 this evil. Where the larvae are present, they are readily de- 

 tected in consequence of the exudation of gum ; hence early 

 in spring the trees should be carefully examined, a little of the 

 earth removed from about the base, and, if masses of gum 

 are found, the larvae searched for and destroyed. Hot water 

 is said to be very eifectual in killing them ; it should be 

 used very hot, and after the earth has been removed, so as to 

 insure its reaching the culprits before it cools. Among the 

 preventive measures, much has been written in favor of 

 mounding the trees, banking the earth up around the trunk 

 to the height of a foot or more, and pressing it firmly about 

 the tree. Some allow the mounds to remain permanently, 

 but the better plan seems to be to mound up late in the 

 spring or towards midsummer, and level off the ground again 

 in September, after egg-laying has ceased and the moths have 

 disappeared. This treatment is said to make the bark very 

 tender and liable to injury during the winter, and it is recom- 

 mended by some to defer its application until the fourth year, 

 by which time the bark will have become sufficiently thickened 

 and hardy to endure the treatment without injury. Placing 

 around the roots a bed of cinders, ashes, or lime, plastering 

 the base of the trunk with mortar or clay and covering it 

 with stout paper, coating the tree with an application of soap 

 or tobacco- water, have all had their advocates; but the weight 

 of testimony is in favor of the removal of the larvae with 

 the knife late in the autumn or early in the spring, and 

 subsequently mounding the trees in the manner already 

 described. 



Another remedy proposed is to cover the trunk with straw 

 in the following manner. Scrape the earth away from the 

 collar, place a handful of straight straw erect around the 

 trunk, fastening it with twine, then return the soil, which 

 will keep the ends of the straw in tiieir place. The straw 

 should entirely cover the bark, and the twine be loosened as 

 the trunk increases in size. Trees so protected are said to 



