236 AMYGDALUS PERS1CA. 
side-shoots except four, until the tree rises to a height of about four feet. August 
1st. Add a small quantity of sand to the roots, as in the season before, in order 
to prevent the fly, (iEgeria,) from depositing her eggs. 
THIRD YEAR. 
March 1st. Add more sand to the roots of the tree, and wash clean its trunk 
with soap-suds or lye. May 15th, or as soon as the heavy rains of spring have 
ceased, cut off in an oblique direction the central shoot of each tree, and leave 
the four lateral ones, reserved the year before, to remain for permanent branches. 
Loosen the ground with a strong fork, so as to admit the air without disturbing 
the roots, and keep the surface clear of weeds during the season. August 1st. 
Wash the trunk of the tree with soap-suds or lye, as in the spring before. 
Loosen the sand about its roots, and add more, in order to guard against the fly. 
FOURTH YEAR AND SUBSEQUENT TREATMENT. 
March 1st. Wash clean the body and forks of each tree with soap-suds, lye, or 
old urine. May 15th. Fork up the ground, and keep its surface free from 
weeds. August 1st. Wash the trunk and branches as in the spring before; 
and from this time forward, no other care will be required than to repeat these 
operations, to prune off all superfluous and dead branches, and to guard against 
the ravages of insects. 
The propagation of the peach-tree by grafting has not very generally been 
practised, owing to the exudation of the gum at the wounded parts, and the jag- 
ging of the bark when the cleft mode is adopted. The latter defect, however, may 
be effectually obviated by cutting through the bark with a sharp instrument, on 
each side of the stock, in the direction of the cleft intended to be opened. This 
will render the bark smooth, and enable it to meet the scion with as perfect con- 
tact as in grafting other kinds of fruit. This mode of propagation will often save 
a year's growth in a tree, particularly if the budding failed the autumn before ; 
for the scions may be inserted in the roots any time from December till May, and 
may be brought from a distance, and used with success, at a period, too, when 
the cultivator is less busy than at the proper season of budding. 
Insects, Accidents, 6fc. The most destructive insect which attacks the peach- 
tree, is a species of borer, 
ing figure,) first scientifically described by Mr. Say, 
volume of the " Journal of the Academy of Sciences, of Philadelphia," and subse- 
quently in his "American Entomology." A history of this insect is also given by 
Dr. T. W. Harris, in the fifth volume of the "New England Farmer," and in his 
"Report on the Insects of Massachusetts injurious to Vegetation." No notice 
appears to have been taken of the pernicious effects of this borer before about the 
year 1766, when it was observed by the late Judge Peters, that, in the neighbour- 
hood of Philadelphia, the peach-trees began, nearly at once, to fail, and finally 
perished. Whether their decay was caused by the borer, then undiscovered, we 
are at a loss to know. Many theories were advanced with regard to the nature 
of the evil, and that offered by Judge Peters, although among the first, perhaps 
was not the least rational. It was his opinion that trees, like animals, have 
inherent diseases, or a susceptibility to receive those peculiar to their species, and 
that of the peach seemed most subject to this tendency. Insects, he conceived, 
were the cause of many injuries to trees, but were most frequently met with in 
moibid parts, feculent or putrefying from previous malady, and were effects 
rather than causes. The borer, however, was not discovered until several years 
afterwards, when it was first noticed near Philadelphia, and was observed 
(JEs;eria exitiosa, denoted in the adjoin- _.t-h-iu_.._ .mmr r. 
calif described bv Mr. Sav, in the third <^lm^BJ^> 
