258 THE APPLE CULTUKIST. 



fourths of an inch. Some entomologists have stated that 

 the borer does not emerge from the tree until the third 

 summer. But Professor Fitch, entomologist of the State 

 of New York, says that 



" The beetle comes abroad in June, and drops its eggs under the loose scales of 

 the bark, low down near the surface of the earth. The worm which hatches there- 

 from eats inward through the bark, till it comes to the wood. It there remains, 

 feeding upon the soft outer layers of the wood, and thus excavates a shallow 

 round cavity under the bark, the size of a half-dollar ; though where two, three, 

 or more worms are lodged in the same tree, as they always preserve a narrow 

 partition between their cells, one never gnawing into that of another, these cells, 

 by crowding upon one another, become of an irregular form, and almost girdle 

 the tree. The cell is always rilled with worm-dust, crowded and compacted to- 

 gether, some of which becomes crowded out through a crack in the bark, or a 

 hole made by the worm. And it is by seeing this sawdust-like powder protrud- 

 ing out of the bark that we detect the presence of these borers in the tree. The 

 worm continues to feed and enlarge its cell under the bark for about twelve 

 mouths, until it has become half-grown, and is from a half to three-fourths of an 

 inch in length. Its jaws have now acquired sufficient strength for it to attack the 

 solid heart-wood of the tree, and it accordingly bores a cylindrical hole from the 

 upper part of its cell, upward in the solid wood, to a length of three or four inches 

 or more, this hole inclining inward towards the centre of the tree, and then curv- 

 ing outward till its upper end comes again to the bark. It then stufl's the upper 

 end of this passage with fine chips or worm-dust, and its lower end with short 

 fibres of wood, arranged like curled locks of hair, thus forming an elastic bed on 

 which to repose during its pupa state. These operations being completed, it 

 throws off its larva skin and becomes a pupa, usually at the close of the second 

 summer, or about fifteen months after it is hatched from the egg. In this state it 

 lies through the winter, and changes to its perfect form in the following spring ; 

 but often continues to lie dormant several weeks after its final change, until the 

 season becomes sufiiciently warm for it to come abroad. Awaking then into life 

 and activity, it crawls upward, loosening and pulling down the chips and dust 

 that close the upper end of its burrow, till it reaches the bark. Through this it 

 cuts with its jaws a remarkably smooth, round hole, of the exact size requisite to 

 enable it to crawl out of the tree. The sexes then pair, and the female deposits 

 another crop of eggs." 



Operations of the Apple-tree Borer illustrated. Fig. 96, 

 on the opposite page, represents a section of a young ap- 

 ple-tree which has been bored by several of these depre- 

 dators. The dark spots represent the holes which his sharp 

 teeth have gouged out in the solid wood. These little puny 

 worms destroy whole orchards. After Apple4ree Borers 

 once get beyond the reach of the knife, it is exceedingly 

 difficult to dislodge the depredators and save the trees. 



Efficacious Remedies." Catch 'em and kill 'em " is the 

 only remedy that we have ever known to be really efficient. 



