48 FIRST ANNUAL RETORT OP 



at once distinguished by having six scaly and ten fleshy legs. It 

 works also more generally under the surface of the ground, and goes 

 through its transformations within a year, though worms of two or 

 three sizes may be found at almost any season. When full grown 

 the worm spins for itself a follicle of silk, mixed with gum and excre- 

 ment, and in due time issues as a moth. As it is not so well known in 

 t Fi s- 17 -] this last state, I annex (Fig. 17) 



figures of both male (2) and female 

 (1) moths. As will be seen from 

 these figures, the two sexes differ 

 very materially from each other, the 

 general color in both being glossy 

 steel-blue. Some specimens which 

 were received from Mr. "W. S. Jewett, of Fevely, Jefferson county, 

 commenced issuing as moths on the 20th of July, but I found empty 

 follicles the latter part of May in trees which had been thoroughly 

 wormed the j^ear before, and from which the moths has consequently 

 left at that early date. This borer likewise attacks the plum-tree, 

 though singularly enough it causes no exudation of gum in this as it 

 does in the peach tree. 



Remedies. — I have had ample occasion to witness the effects of the 

 mounding system during the summer, in several different orchards, 

 and am fully convinced that it is the best practical method of pre- 

 venting the attacks of this insect, and that it matters little whether 

 ashes or simple earth be used for the mound. True, there are parties 

 who claim (and among them Dr. Hull, of Alton, Ills.,) that the almost 

 complete exemption from borers in mounded peach-orchards is due, 

 not to any special effect produced by the mound, but to the general 

 rarity of the insect. But I have found no general rarity of the insect, 

 wherever I have been in our own State; but on the contrary, have 

 with difficulty found a single tree in any orchard that was in anywise 

 neglected, that did not contain borers ; while I have found mounded 

 trees entirely exempt. The following paragraph communicated to the 

 Western Rural by Mr. B. Pullen, of Centralia, Illinois, touches on this 

 point, and 1 can bear witness to the thrift and vigor of Mr. P.'s trees : 



"As spring will soon be upon us I wish to add my testimony in favor 

 of the " banking system," as a preventive against the attacks of the - 

 peach-borer. As to its efficacy there can be no doubt. I have prac- 

 ticed it four years with complete success. I would not advise its 

 adoption until after the trees are four years old. During most of this 

 period the bark is tender, and trees are liable to be entirely girdled 

 by even a single worm. Safety lies only in personal examination and 

 removal with the knife, in fall and spring (September and April). In 

 April of the fouith year bank up to the hight of from ten to twelve 

 inches, pressing the dirt firmly around the tree. A little dirt should 

 be added each successive spring. It is not only a preventive but a 

 great saving of labor." 



