PEACHES. 277 



not be had, all one has to do to keep these pests at a dis- 

 tance is to dissolve one pound of copperas in eight gallons 

 of water, and let the earth be well soaked with it close 

 around the stem of the tree : it is life to the tree and death 

 to the borer. 



Another preventive is ashes and salt; another, and a 

 very effective one is to scrape away the earth and wrap 

 stiff brown paper around and below the collar, then re- 

 place the soil, and the wandering borer, searching for a 

 place whereon to lay its eggs, will pass on in disgust. 



Another preventive, and an excellent one, too, is twice 

 each year, in the spring and late summer, to dash a bucket- 

 ful of scalding water on the base of the trunk, so that the 

 collar will get a liberal bath ; it won't hurt the tree in the 

 least, but it will kill the borer and its eggs ; the tree do n't 

 mind " getting into hot water," but the worm does. Trees 

 treated in this way grow with amazing thrift, and it will 

 pay the peach grower to procure a large iron kettle for 

 the express purpose of heating water in the orchard so 

 that every tree may be scalded thoroughly, especially so if 

 the hot water is made the medium for applying the cop- 

 peras solution as above ; this would be " killing two birds 

 with one stone." 



In cases where the borer can not well be routed, or where 

 ants are injuring the tree, a piece of tow, or similar mate- 

 rial, dipped in a mixture of hog's lard and chloride of 

 lime, and tied low on the trees, will cause a speedy surren- 

 der of the invading forces ; they will evacuate the prem- 

 ises without stopping to demand the honors of war. 



The "yellows" is another and much-dreaded enemy of 

 the peach, and in many sections of the North it has spread 

 like an epidemic over whole tracts of country, sweeping 

 out of existence thousands of trees in a single season ; for- 

 tunately, we see but little of this fatal disease in the South, 

 still it is well to be fore-anneal. 



