138 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



The peach tree has another borer which is quite 

 as destructive. You must look for the work just 

 at the surface of the ground, or in the mulch which 

 you have placed about the tree. Clear the way with 

 a sharp knife, cutting the blackened bark until you 

 find the mouth of the hole, then with flexible wire 

 bore the borer to death. Cover the wound with wax, 

 if it be large enough to be serious, and then pile coal 

 ashes around the tree, until the gritty material covers 

 all that part where the beetle has been at work. 



A full grown plum or peach tree will need half a 

 bushel of ashes, while twice that amount will hardly 

 be enough for some of your apple or pear trees. It 

 is not a bad plan to anticipate these insects by wrap- 

 ping your young trees with tarred paper. If you 

 have borers in your grape vines or your currant 

 bushes, cut below their incisions and burn the prun- 

 ings. 



You see that I am making considerable note of 

 coal ashes, and I assure you that this material should 

 never be wasted. It is not only of great use about 

 your trees as a mulch, but as you throw it about your 

 soil, while renewing mulch, it is a capital material to 

 mix with clay and keep the soil loose. Notice that 

 it prevents borers from working, is a splendid ma- 

 terial for mulch, and it loosens clay soils, and you 

 can make these three uses unite in one. Some of 

 our least valued everyday material is of more value 

 than the high priced stuff that is bought as fertilizer. 

 I would rather have a few cart loads of anthracite 



