CHAPTER XXVI. 

 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE PEACH, PLUM AND CHERRY * 



The Peach-tree Borer f 



WHEREVER peaches are grown they are subject to the attacks 

 of the ever-present borers, and if neglected will soon succumb 

 to their injury. East of the Rocky Mountains the common peach- 

 tree borer has been known since the earliest settlements, and it 

 also occurs in Colorado and Oregon. It is a native insect which 

 probably lived on wild cherry and wild plum, and is known to 

 attack plum, prune, apricot and nectarine, though chiefly a 

 peach pest. On the Pacific Coast a nearly related species, the 

 California peach-tree borer, J does similar injury and has very 

 similar habits. The lesser peach-tree borer is commonly asso- 

 ciated with the more common borer and has done considerable 

 injury in western New York, Maryland, Virginia and Georgia. 

 It occurs throughout the country and is doubtless commonly 

 confused with the larger and more common species. Although 

 it is quite different in its life history and habits, the injury is 

 very similar, and as it must be controlled by the same methods 

 it need not be separately considered. 



The presence of the borers may be detected by the mass of 

 gummy, gelatinous material, more or less mixed with soil, which 

 exudes from the crowns of trees injured by them. The injury 

 is done by the larvae feeding on the soft inner bark of the crown 

 of the root, the adjacent roots and the base of the trunk. Often 

 the larvae will completely girdle a tree and where a tree is infested 



* See J. B. Smith, Bulletin 235, N. J. Agr. Exp. Sta. 



t Sanninoidea exitiosa Say. Family Sesiidce. See Quaintance, Yearbook 

 U. S. Dept. Agr., 1905, p. 330; M. V. Slingerland, Bulletin 176, Cornell Univ. 

 Agr. Exp. Sta. ; H. N. Starnes, Bulletin 73, Geo. Agr. Exp. Sta. 



t Sanninoidea opalescens Hy. Ed. See C. W. Woodworth, Bulletin 143, 

 Cal. Agr. Exp. Sta. 



Synanthedon pictipes G. & R. See A. A. Girault, Bulletin 68, Part IV, 

 Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agr., and J. L. King, Bulletin 307, Ohio 

 Agr. Expt. Station. 



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