THE ALMOND. 41 



in this latitude during the month of June, and the 

 female deposits her eggs on the stems of the trees near 

 the surface of the ground, or a little below it if she can 

 find a convenient opening to suit her purpose. The 

 eggs deposited soon hatch, and the young larvae bore 

 through the tender bark at this point, and when fairly 

 under it, branch off, cutting galleries through the soft 

 alburnum underneath. When a number of these borers 

 are at work on the same tree they sometimes girdle and 

 kill it the first season, especially if it is young or a small 

 specimen. But if the tree is not killed outright it will 

 show, by the check to its growth, that borers are at 

 work. The borers continue feeding throughout the 

 remainder of the season, and up to the time freezing 

 weather sets in for the winter, and if not full grown at 

 this time they will finish their growth early in spring, 

 then crawl to near the outside, or just under the old 

 bark, and there spin a thin cocoon, in which they are 

 transformed to the pupal stage, remaining in this form 

 for a few weeks, then issuing in the winged or moth 

 stage. 



In the line of preventives and remedies there is 

 nothing better than clean cultivation about the trees, 

 and annual examination of each tree early in summer 

 and the crushing of every borer found. The next best 

 thing, in the way of a preventive, is to wrap the stems 

 from a little below the surface of the ground to a foot or 

 more above it with heavy paper, cloth, or bark of some 

 kind, to keep the moth from laying her eggs on the bark 

 of the tree. I have used common tar paper for this 

 purpose, not only because it is very cheap and does not 

 decay when exposed to the weather, but the exhalation 

 or odor of tar seems to be offensive to the moths. In 

 the use of this material I have never found that it was 

 in the least injurious to the bark underneath. Painting 

 the stems with soap, cement, clay, or even common 



