INSECTS ATTACKING LARGE FRUITS. 69 



Remedies — A preventive which has been much recommended 

 is that of washing the base of the tree trunk with an alkaline 

 mixture. One quart of soft soap or one pound of hard soap, with 

 about two gallons of water and a pint of crude carbolic acid, 

 should be mixed, and thoroughly applied with a scrub brush to 

 the collar of the tree ; some applied to the principal fork of the 

 tree may do good. This wash is repulsive to the beetle and pre- 

 vents the laying of the eggs. The wash should be applied first 

 late in May and occasionally thereafter in June and July. 



Mr. G. C. Brackett, secretary of the Kansas State Horticultu- 

 ral Society, claims that washes and external applications are not 

 practically reliable as a preventive of egg-laying. ( Report State 

 Horticultural Society for 1879, p. 199.) 



A tedious but sure method is that of cutting out the young 

 larvae. A careful examination of the tree for discolorations in 

 the bark, and for castings issuing from the trunk, will usually re- 

 veal the whereabouts of the borers. They may be cut out with a 

 sharp knife, or, if they have burrowed deeply, may be reached 

 by using a stout, wire probe. 



Kansas Notes. — The Round-headed Apple-tree Borer has long 

 been recognized as, next to the Codlin Moth, perhaps, the most 

 serious apple pest in the State. References to its presence are 

 conspicuous in the reports of the State Horticultural Society 

 since the beginning of their publication. This borer is a native 

 of America, being first described by Thomas Say in 1824. It 

 lives, also, according to Saunders, in native crab-trees, in the com- 

 mon June-berry, the pear, quince, and mountain ash. 



PLAT-HEADED APPLE-TREE BORER. 

 {Chrysobothris femorata Fabr.; Order, Coleoptera.) 



Diagnosis. — Attacking the trunk and larger branches of the 

 apple ; on examination of the trees in the fall, presence of young 

 borers is detected by discolored spots, cracking of the bark, or 

 sawdust-like excrement. Sickly and newly planted trees are es- 

 pecially liable to attack. In summer the adult beetle (three- 

 eighths to one-half inch long, flattish, oblong, greenish-black, feet 



