60 THE KANSAS PEACH. 



ENE3IIES AND DISEASES OF THE PEACH. 



THE PEACH-TREE BORER. 



( Sannina exitiosa Say.) 



From Bulletin Xo. 77 of the Kansas State Agricultural College Experiment Station, by 

 Prof. E. E. Faville, of the Entomological Department. 



One of the most widely distributed insects attacking peach trees in 

 Kansas is the peach borer. See tigs. 6, 9, and 10. Notwithstanding 

 the havoc noted each year, scarcely anything of its attacks, life-history 

 or appearance is known by the majority of horticulturists of this state. 

 Too often peach trees planted and left to grow suddenly weaken and 

 die, seemingly from some unknown cause. Thus the planting of 

 peach trees is little encouraged on the average farm. If the method 

 of destruction of the borer were better understood, its attacks could 

 be more easily stopped. 



The damage done to the tree consists in extreme cases in the entire 

 girdling of the tree. In slight attacks mere excavations are made in 

 the bark and layers of the bark. Where girdling is prolonged, the 

 infested part begins in time to decay. The eggs are deposited on the 

 bark of the tree, ordinarily near the surface of the ground. The eggs 

 are of a yellowish color, oval shaped, somewhat flattened, and average 

 about one-fiftieth of an inch in length. The earliest record of the 

 api^earance of the adult at the Kansas station is June 16. From about 

 this time until fall eggs are deposited on the bark at the base of the 

 tree, fastened by a gummy substance which is secreted by the female. 

 As soon as the larvae hatch they work their way downward toward 

 the roots. They do not perforate the bark at first, but as they increase 

 in size they gradually enlarge their channels laterally and inwardly. 



When first hatched the larvi^e are very small, but by winter .some in- 

 dividuals attain a length of one and one-third inches. They are of a 

 whitish color, slightly tinged with yellow ; body soft and cylindrical; 

 slightly tapering from first three segments; head horny like, brown, 

 with strong jaws; segment next to head semi-chitinous. Fine hairs 

 are arranged sparsely over the body, more noticeable at tip of abdomen. 

 In studying badly infested trees at and near the college grounds dur- 

 ing the past season, a number of important and practical observations 

 were made. Whole trees, with roots attached, were removed in cer- 

 tain instances and studied. See fig. 12. Ujoon examination of the 

 infe.sted trees various stages of the larvse were found, varying in length 

 from one-fourth of an inch to one and one-fourth inches. This varia- 



