ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 357 



that has been injured or sun-scalded, as 

 such trees are most liable to be attacked. 



PEACH BORER,— The borer is the 

 •most troublesome enemy of the peach, 

 but if looked after in time it is easily sub- 

 dued, and need not seriously intertere 

 with cultivation. The eggs from which 

 this pest is produced are deposited by a 

 four-winged wasp-shaped insect, during 

 the summer, on the tender bark of the 

 tree, at the surface of the ground. As 

 the season advances the eggs hatch into 

 small white grubs or borers, about an 

 inch long and an eighth of an inch in di- 

 ameter, which penetrate the bark and 

 bore into the sap-wood, where they re- 

 main all winter. The next spring they 

 emerge in their perfect winged form, and 

 soon commence depositing eggs for an- 

 other generation. While in the tree they 

 devour voraciously the bark and sap- 

 wood, and one or two are sufficient to 

 destroy a young tree in a single season, 

 and four or five will destroy an old one. 



Remedy. — A little experience will en- 

 able one to detect the borer. The most 

 certain and obvious sign is the gum at 

 the neck of the tree; that is, the tender 

 part which extends about an inch above 

 and two below the surface. When this is 

 discovered, the earth should be scraped 

 from the root, the gum and decayed wood 

 cut away, and a stiff wire or whalebone 

 thrust into the curving cavity, and the 

 worm be thus destroyed. Care must be 

 taken to kill all, as sometimes five or six 

 will be found in the same tree. The dead 

 and diseased wood should be carefully re- 

 moved, so that the new growth may cover 

 the old wood as soon as possible. Afterthe 

 operation the soil should be drawn up to 

 the neck of the tree again, to prevent the 

 evil effects ot the sun or dry winds in 

 summer, or the severe fosts in winter. 

 The application of boiling water, the 

 waste water from salt works, and oil dif- 

 fused in water have all been proposed as 

 remedies, but are all inferior to the punch- 

 ing operation with a wire or whalebone. 

 Sheathing the tree with strips of thick 

 paper, straw, or cloth, a foot wide, is a good 

 preventive, if kept on from the middle of 

 June till the middle of October. The 

 paper should extend two inches below 

 the surface, the dirt being scraped away 

 for the purpose. After adjusting the pa- 



per properly, the dirt should be drawn 

 back and pressed down firmly. 



Remedies. — We have had ample occa- 

 sion to witness the effects of the mound- 

 ing system during the summer in several 

 orchards, and are fully convinced that it 

 is the best practical method of preventing 

 the attacks of this insect, and that it mat- 

 ters little whether ashes or simple earth 

 be used for the mound. 



CODLING MOTH OR APPLE-WORM. 



The apple-worm we find to be quite 



common in almost all parts of the civil- 

 ized world where apples are grown. Dr. 

 Trimble has devoted page after page to 

 the consideration of this little pest, and 

 yet its whole history and the means of 

 preventing its insidious work may be 

 given in a very few lines. The following fig- 

 ure represents it in all its states, and gives 

 at a glance its natural history : a repre- 

 sents a section of an apple which has 

 been attacked by the worm, showing the 

 burrowings and channel of exit to the 

 left; d, the point at which the egg was 

 laid and at which the young worm enter- 

 ed ; <?, the full grown worm ; h y its head 



Fig. 3. 



and first segment magnified; /, the co- 

 coon which it spins ; d, the chrysalis to 

 which it changes ; /, the moth which es- 

 capes from the chrysalis, as it appears 

 when at rest ; g, the same with wings ex- 

 panded. The worm when young is whit- 

 ish, with usually an entirely black head 

 and a black shield on the top of the first 

 segment. When full grown it acquires a 

 flesh colored or pinkish tint, especially on 

 the back, and the head and top of first 



