276 FLORIDA FRUITS PEACHES AND PLUMS. 



much maligned woodpeckers. If the fruit grower only 

 knew how much solid, substantial aid these poor birds gave 

 him in his war on the insects that attack his trees, he 

 would never allow one to be shot on his premises. In the 

 matter of this self-same borer, for instance, they always 

 seem to know just where to find it, and, if above ground, 

 rarely fail to rout it out and end its career of mischief 

 forever. 



For one fruit he destroys the woodpecker saves fifty. 

 The borer deposits its eggs on the base of the trunk where 

 the bark is soft ; here it is hatched, and from this point 

 usually bores its way into the tree ; consequently, wherever 

 traces of borers are found, after routing out such as have 

 already effected a lodgment, it is a good plan to remove the 

 earth from around the collar, hunt for any cocoons that 

 may be hidden there, then fill in with fresh earth, a shov- 

 elful of ashes, and a little salt or lime. 



Another way to exterminate this pest is, after dislodg- 

 ing those inside the tree, to swab the trunk from the lower 

 limbs to the upper roots with a wash of lime and sulphur, 

 then re-cover the roots with fresh earth and pour over them 

 a bucketful of water with a teaspoonful of carbolic acid 

 dissolved in it. 



So much for remedies ; now for what is of much more 

 value, preventives one ounce of which, as the proverb 

 truly tells us, is worth a pound of the former. It has 

 been observed that the peach trees in iron regions are very 

 seldom attacked by borers, they do n't like iron, evidently 

 not being in need of a tonic, and so when there is iron pres- 

 ent in the soil, there the peach trees flourish in the highest 

 perfection. 



All stone fruits, let us mention here, are improved by 

 iron, either by a few nails driven in near the root, or by 

 blacksmith's cinders ; and as for the borers, if cinders can 



