86 DECIDUOUS FRUIT INSECTS AND INSECTICIDES. 
now conceded to be the best tools in use. A combined scraper, 
chisel, and rounded worming blade has been used extensively, but 
tools of this kind do not contain the fine quality of steel that is found 
in other knives and chisels and they soon become dull. The bark is 
often broken rather than cut when such tools are used, and this works 
serious injury to the tree. The curved worming blade is especially 
harmful, because it is forced into the burrow and great pieces of liv- 
ing as well as dead bark are broken off. The tool is convenient 
because it combines the scraper, chisel, and worming point, but its 
convenience can not offset the better work of the ordinary chisel and 
knife. 
There are two periods during the winter and the spring months 
when worming can be done to advantage. Worms are from half to 
full grown and can be easily seen during the winter. They are more 
or less dormant, and if cut out at this time the trees will be spared 
the later injury which would follow their feeding during the spring. 
It is also more convenient to orchardists to dig for borers at this 
time because of a freedom from other work. Spring worming is also 
quite as effective as when this work is done during the fall. A pro- 
tective wash should be applied after ‘‘worming”’ has been accom- 
plished. Such a wash acts primarily as a repellent and keeps adult 
moths from placing their eggs on such treated trees. This wash 
should be applied during the months of May or early June, when 
moths are beginning to fly. If the wash is applied after worming in 
the fall it deteriorates and cracks and falls away from the tree before 
the time when oviposition occurs. It is considered just as good 
practice to dig the borers during the fall as in the spring, but in any 
case the wash should again be applied in May or early June. The 
wash also serves in a secondary way to render the labor of subse- 
quent worming much more easy and rapid. The dirt and bark 
scalings fall from the washed tree more easily than from those 
unwashed, and the masses of frass, indicating the presence of borers, 
are also more easily discovered. 
FORMULAS FOR WASHES USED. 
The following washes have been used extensively for controlling 
borers in the Santa Clara Valley and elsewhere: 
Formula No. 1.—The lime-crude oil mixture: Place about 50 pounds of rock lime 
in a barrel and slake with 10 or 15 gallons of warm water; while the lime is boiling, 
slowly pour in 6 or 8 gallons of heavy crude oil, and stir thoroughly. Add enough 
water to make the whole a heavy paste. The wash should be applied immediately 
with a heavy brush. 
Formula No. 2.—The lime-sulphur-salt mixture: Place about 25 pounds of rock 
lime in a barrel and slake with warm water. Add 2 quarts of sulphur and 2 or 3 hand- 
fuls of salt while the lime is still boiling. This wash is heavy and is applied with 
a brush. 
