3. THE PEACH. 



AFFECTING THE ROOT. 



Cankering and destroying the bark of the root and causing the gum td 

 exude profusely; a white cylindrical fourtecn-jointed worm, with six 

 true legs and ten pro-legs. 



The Peach-tree Borer. JEgeria exitiosa. Say. 



With all the care and attention which can be bestowed upon 

 the peach tree, it is much more short lived at the present day than 

 when the country was newer. What medical men would term a 

 change of " diathesis " appears to have taken place; some altera- 

 tion in the soil or climate has occurred, whereby this valuable 

 fruit tree cannot be grown so readily and successfully as formerly. 

 Hon. John A. King informs me, that when the property which he 

 now occupies at Jamaica, on Long Island, was purchased by his 

 father, in the year 1816, there were growing contiguous to the 

 farm mansion, peach trees which were thrifty and vigorous, 

 although they were scores of years old and of such size that it 

 was necessary to climb up among the limbs to gather the fruit. 

 The fruit, moreover, was of a finer quality and more delicious 

 flavor than any which is met with at the present day. Upon the 

 same ground he can now obtain but one fair crop of fruit; as soon 

 as a tree has yielded this it produces no more, but rapidly dwin- 

 dles and dies. The Messrs. Parsons, nurserymen at Flushing, 

 confirm this statement. They say that four bearing years is the 

 utmost that can be anticipated from this tree, and that to insure 

 a supply of this fruit annually, it is indispensable that new trees 

 be set out every year. They say there would seem to be 

 some peculiar principle or quality in the soil favorable to the 

 growth of the peach, which has now become exhausted upon 



