li)2 FRUIT INSECTS 



not allow rank growths of weeds, water-sprouts or other vege- 

 tation to accumulate about the base of the tree. 



The surest and best remedy for this pest after it gets into the 

 tree is the old and much practiced digging or cutting out 

 method. Experienced orchardists are often able to readily 

 locate the borer by the oozing of sap or by particles of sawdust 

 coming from minute holes in the bark leading into the burrows. 

 It is then often an easy matter to reach the borer with a sharp 

 knife or chisel, or a wire may be pushed into the tunnel until 

 the grub is impaled. Great care must be practiced or more 

 injury may result from the knife than from the borer. The 

 trees should be thoroughly examined in early spring, not later 

 than May, for the borers are usually more easily located then 

 by their sawdust-like castings, and it is also important to destroy 

 those that are then transforming to the beetles. Continue to 

 use the knife during the summer whenever a borer can be located, 

 and go over the trees thoroughly in early autumn to get the 

 younger borers working just beneath the bark. Where valuable 

 trees have been riddled or girdled by the borers, or in trying 

 to dig them out, the tree may be saved by putting in several 

 bridge grafts at the base, as is often done when trees are girdled 

 by mice or rabbits. Wounds made in removing borers should 

 be coated with gas tar to exclude moisture and prevent the 

 development of fungous diseases. 



Other kinds of borers in shade or park trees have been suc- 

 cessfully treated by injecting a little carbon bisulfide into the 

 small hole from which the sawdust-like excrement is being pushed 

 out, and the hole quickly plugged with putty or grafting wax. 

 The deadly fumes of this very volatile liquid penetrate the bur- 

 row and finally kill the borers. Orchardists should give this 

 sensible method a thorough trial. A similar treatment has been 

 successfully used by some fruit-growers. Wherever the saw- 

 dust is seen coming through the bark, kerosene is freely appUed 

 which is absorbed by the castings and carried by capillary 



