66 THE KANSAS PEACH. 



PEACH-TREE BORER. 



By Frank Holsinger, of Wyandotte county, in the Western Fruit-grower. 



The peach tree borer is a very common pest throughout the 

 country wherever the peach is grown. It is a native American, and 

 doubtless subsisted in the wild plums, which were widely scattered. 

 It is claimed by some that it attacks the cherry, but I have as yet to 

 be convinced that the cherry is ever infested by them. 



The presence of the peach borer is discernible by the exudation of 

 a glutinous, gummy substance at or near the root of the tree. To the 

 orchardist no introduction of this enemy is needed. Yet it is no un- 

 common thing to meet orchardists who, while recognizing the im- 

 portance of the pest and knowing its habits, are unfamiliar with the 

 parent insect. See figs. 6, 9, and 10. The parent is a moth, yet is fre- 

 quently mistaken for a wasp, which it strongly resembles. In the male 

 this similarity is more strongly developed than in the female. In color 

 the moth is a deep blue. In the male the wings are transparent ; in 

 the female, the hind wings only. The female is much the larger when 

 her wings are expanded, being fully one and one-half inches across. 



In this latitude they appear about May 1. They deposit their eggs 

 in the bark at a few inches below the surface of the ground. The 

 egg is very small ; color, yellowish brown. After a short period of in- 

 cubation they are hatched, the worm entering the bark of the tree to 

 the sap-wood, where it feeds until fall. This is the time the greatest 

 damage is usually done, as not infrequently the tree is entirely gir- 

 dled and dies. How to get rid of them is therefore an important factor. 



The remedies are legion — c^uack nostrums are abundant; but a lit- 

 tle common sense injected into a little work will give you the greatest 

 satisfaction. About May 1 take a hoe and mound the ground fa bout 

 your trees four to six inches in height. This will induce the moth to 

 deposit her eggs high up in the tree. You should maintain this 

 mound. If the winds and rains displace it, go over your trees and re- 

 place the ground about the trunk. You should see that the weeds 

 are kept down. About the 10th or middle of September you should, 

 with the hoe, remove the ground, leveling it. You will be surprised 

 at the result. Many exudations of gummy matter, carrying numer- 

 ous larvse, will part from the tree. Wherever this substance is found 

 scrape the tree and that tree will be beyond the power of the moths' 

 influence for at least that year. It is quickly done. An active hand 

 can efPectively care for 500 to 1000 trees per day. 



I have rarely lost a tree, although following this custom for more 

 than fifteen years. It does sometimes happen that some larvse escape 

 observation at first, but by having the tree scraped you can at a glance 



