APPLE-TRUNK BORER ITS EXTENT. 11 



safety as though they had never been affected. This, at all events 

 is a point which any nurseryman can easily ascertain by experi- 

 ment. Mr. Downing recommends the mixing of a shovelfull 

 of ashes with the earth in which such trees are set, which may 

 be equally as effectual as an immersion of the roots in soapsuds. 



AFFECTING THE TRUNK. 



Excavating a round flat cavity under the bark near the root, and then 

 boring a cylindrical hole upward in the solid wood: a yellowish or 

 white, footless, cylindrical grub, broadest anteriorly, with a brown 

 head and black jaws. 



The Apple Tree Borer. Saperda bivittata, Say. Synonym, Saperda 

 Candida? Fabricius. 



This is one of the worst enemies against which our apple trees 

 have to contend. It is much more common everywhere in our 

 country than is generally supposed. The editor of the Ohio Cul- 

 tivator (vol. x, page 212), speaks of it as a New England insect, 

 which has never been seen as yet, to his knowledge, in Ohio. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that it is common in that State, 

 for I met with it last autumn in the orchards of Michigan and 

 Illinois, and am informed by the editor of the Prairie Farmer 

 that it has for many years been found in the neighborhood of 

 Chicago. Specimens of the beetle have also been sent me from 

 Arkansas ; and as this is a native insect which breeds in the dif- 

 ferent species of thorn, in the mountain ash, and the shad-bush, 

 there is a strong probability that it is as widely spread over our 

 country as these trees are. And notwithstanding it*has been so 

 often noticed in our agricultural and other papers, many of out 

 citizens are yet wholly unaware of its existence, and others who 

 are familiar with the published accounts, suppose it occurs only 

 in some distant localities, and are wholly unsuspicious that their 

 own neighborhoods and their own trees are suffering from it. We 

 have reason to believe that in many instances where orchards are 

 dwindling and dicing from the attacks of this insect, their pro- 

 prietors suppose there is something in the soil or local situation 

 which prevents their fruit trees from being more vigorous and 

 flourishing. In many sections of our country, it is the current 



