229 



not the cause of it as is commonly supposed. Trees affected with the 

 disease, however, afford the insects facilities for concealment in the twisted 

 leaves, and increases the difficulty in dealing with them. Remedies : 1. 

 Tobacco Water. This is an old-fashioned , but an excellent and effective 

 remedy. 2. Quassia Water. 3, Kerosene Emulsion. 4. Resin Com- 

 pound. 5. Elder Leaf Water. 6 Walnut Leaf Water. Each of these 

 remedies should be used as a fine spray, and, as the young foliage of the 

 Peach and Nectarine is very tender and easily injured, care must he 

 taken not to use strong solutions. Several sprayings may be required, 

 and these should be given at short intervals for as long a period as may 

 be necessary. Full directions for preparing and using the various 

 remedies will be found at pages 99 to 102, volume 1. 



Borers. Peach trees are liable to suffer from the larvas or grubs of 

 several kinds of beetles and weevils, and they are often affected to a 

 serious extent. Some of these pests are fairly well known to cultivators, 

 but as to others their habits and life histories are more obscure, and there 

 is a wide field for investigation. One of the most destructive of these 

 insects is the Peach-tree Borer (Trochilium exitiosum), which also is very 

 troublesome to Plum trees. This insect in its larva stage eats into the 

 bark of the stem just below the surface of the ground, and will sometimes 

 completely girdle the tree. The presence of the insect is indicated, upon 



PEACH TREE BORER, 

 Perfect Insects (Natural Size). 



Male. Female. 



scraping away tlie soil, by the exudation of gum mixed with an excretion 

 resembling sawdust. The perfect insect is a four-winged moth somewhat 

 resembling a wasp (see illustration), which has but a very short existence 

 and is rarely seen. It deposits its eggs, which are very minute, in the 

 bark at the foot of the tree, and these soon hatch, when the young larvae 

 at once commence the work of their lives. The next season these grubs 

 encase themselves in sawdust-like cocoons, and from these the perfect 

 insects emerge. The Elephant Beetle (Orthorrhinus cylindrirostris) often 

 proves destructive to the Peach by boring into the branches in its larval 

 stage. Several kindred species of the weevil family also attack either 



