r 
6 
To assist a tree in recuperating after it has been girdled, a bridge or 
two should be made by splitting a piece of apple twig (say of an inch 
or two in thickness), cutting it diagonally on the inside, and applying 
to the surface at the base of the tree. It should then be tied on and 
grafting wax applied to each end, after which a fertilizer should be 
applied and the whole banked over with earth. It is also well to keep 
the tree watered for a few weeks after treatment. 
Mechanical preventives.—This is one of the borers that can readily 
be controlled by different sorts of mechanical barriers placed about the 
base of the tree. For this a few thicknesses of newspaper wrapped. 
rather loosely about the trunk and extending about two feet from the 
base are all that is necessary. This covering should be tied, by pref- 
erence with cord, which will readily yield or break with the natural 
expansion of the tree in its growth, and also be tightly fastened at top 
and bottom and hilled up with earth so that the beetles can not obtain 
access to the tree from below. From the top of this covering upward 
it is best to use some deterrent alkaline or carbolated wash. Instead 
of newspapers, Wire gauze or mosquito netting may be used, and 
should be put in place so as to loosely encircle the tree, that the beetles 
may be debarred from depositing their eggs between its meshes and 
that the growth of the tree may not be hindered. Both devices have 
been successfully employed for a long period of years, and there is 
abundant testimony to their value. If the netting or paper be put in 
place early in May, it will not only prevent the beetles from oviposit- 
ing during the next two months, but will also keep the insects which 
might be present in the trunk from issuing, and they will die in their 
burrows without being able to lay fertilized eggs. The paper wrap- 
ping must be removed each season, but the wire netting will last for 
several years. It is safe to remove either, ordinarily, after the first of 
September. 
Protective washes.—Any one of several washes in general use against 
boring insects may be used as a deterrent. A good alkaline wash is 
prepared of soft soap reduced to the consistency of thick paint by the 
addition of caustic potash or washing soda in solution. A good fish- 
oil, or whale-oil, soap, or common soft soap, is often used, and in some 
cases any one of these is sufficient to deter the insects from depositing 
their eges. The alkaline wash may be carbolated, if desired, by the 
addition of crude carbolic acid, at the rate of 1 pint to every 10 gal- 
lons of the wash. Such a wash not only affords protection against 
this and. other borers, but against scale and fungous diseases at these 
points, and is, moreover, of positive benefit to the tree. Caustic pot- 
ash fish-oil soaps are among the best for insecticides. 
Whatever wash is used should be applied thoroughly, and in locali- 
ties where apple-tree borers are unusually troublesome the larger 
(Cir. 32] 
