No. 2. Preservation of Fruit Trees. — Restraint — Exercise. 



69 



On the preservation of Frnit Trees. 



A Paper read by the Hon. Samuel T). Ino- 

 HAM, before the meeting of the Bucks 

 County Agricultural Society, held at 

 Pineville Hall, August 21s/, 1845. 



' ' The insect which has caused such exten- 

 sive havoc among Peach Trees in our coun- 

 try, bclong-s to that most destructive of all 

 the families of the races of insects, the Moth. 

 It has four wings, its body about three-fourths 

 of an inch long, is formed by six belts, grad- 

 ually tapering from the wings to the tail. 

 Some have supposed that its eggs wore laid 

 in the crotches of the limbs, and under the 

 rough pieces of bark, but as the 3'oung larvae 

 of all insects require their peculiar food, the 

 parent generally seeks a place for depositing 

 her eggs where food may be conveniently 

 found. A worthy friend of mine, the late 

 Samuel Johnson, of Buckingham, mentioned 

 to me many years ago, that he believed the 

 Peach Moth laid its eggs on the leaves of 

 the peach trees, which, by curling up, pro- 

 tected thern from the weather until hatched, 

 and then supplied them with food until the 

 leaves withered and fell to the ground. He 

 further remarked that the larvse in searching 

 for supplies of food, on finding the root of 

 the young tree, seized on the tender bark, 

 and if it had strength enough, penetrated to 

 the wood, where it continued to ravage upon 

 its victim until death. This is by far the 

 most probable process of this insect thus far, 

 and it may be remarked that there is a trait 

 in the character of most, if not all wood 

 worms, not generally known, viz: The 

 change from the larvse to the chrysalis does 

 not take place from any law of necessity at 

 fixed periods of time, but is prolonged ac- 

 cording to circumstances almost indefinitely. 

 I once found a worm in a piece of yellow 

 pine furniture, which, unless it had entered 

 the dry wood after it was painted, must have 

 been there more than twenty years. The 

 amount of work it had done seemed to justi- 

 fy the same idea of its longevity. I conclude, 

 therefore, that the peach worm remains in 

 the tree as long as it finds food to suit, whe- 

 ther the theory of the process of maturation 

 be true or not. There is no doubt that the 

 young larvjE, in a very tender state, com- 

 mence their attacks on the bark of the tree, 

 and consequently a small matter, properly 

 applied, could not fail to protect the tree from 

 their ravages. The remedy I propose does not 

 depend for its efficacy upon any particular 

 process in the labors of the insect. It is as 

 follows: When the young peach trees are 

 taken from the nursery, let them be very 

 carefully examined, and every worm taken 

 out, or if any trees are materially injured, 



reject tliem ; when tiuis examined, &ic., [mt 

 on the lower part of the stalk, and upper tide 

 of the root, a tliin coating of tur, so warm as 

 to be conveniently applied witka paint brush, 

 tiien plant the trees in the usual way, and 

 once in two years remove the earth around 

 the stalk and apply another coat of the same 

 material ; a quart of tar will suffice for thirty 

 or forty growing trees, and two hands will 

 easily dress two or three hundred in a day. 

 Be careful not to have the tar too hot, nor to 

 make the coat too thick on young trees; 

 when done replace the earth on the roots — 

 after the first application it is not very ma- 

 terial at what season it is done. 



I have tried the experiment for several 

 years, and while every tree not thus treated 

 with the tar was destroyed by the worms, 

 not the slightest injury was done to the 

 others. I consider the trial I have made, 

 though on but a few trees, as a demonstra- 

 tion of the efficacy of the tar thus applied, 

 as an antidote to the Peach worm. 



I have found the same application upon 

 young apple trees, a complete preventive 

 against the ravages of mice. For this pur- 

 pose the tar may be slightly boiled, and if 

 put on once a year the mice will not touch 

 the bark. — Bucks County Intelligencer. 



Restraints — Exercise. 



We take the following from a Southern paper. Let 

 a word to the wise prove sufficient. — Ed. 



From infancy our girls are waited upon till 

 locomotion becomes painful ; they grow up 

 with a fair skin, and from generous feeding 

 are apparently full in development; but there 

 is no muscle, nothing but fat, which the first 

 trials of the physical frame dissipate, and the 

 whole system is collapsed. For the want of 

 exercise in the house and in the open air, 

 added to the infamous and disgusting press- 

 ure of the waist and all the vital organs, the 

 secretions are faulty ; the skin, instead of 

 being of a firm, velvet-feeling texture, be- 

 comes pale and sallow ; then come low spir- 

 its, peevishness, ennui, disgust. 



Nature has decreed that work, health, and 

 happiness, should be closely united. If you 

 want a drink, go to the pump or to the spring 

 and get it; if to bathe, prepare your own 

 bath, or plunge into the running stream; 

 make your own beds, sweep your own rooms, 

 and wash your own clothes; throw away 

 your corsets, and Nature herself will form 

 your bustles; then you will have full chests, 

 glossy hair, rosy complexions, smootii velvet 

 skins, muscular, rounded limbs, graceful 

 tonrnures, elasticity of person, generous 

 hearts, sweet tempers, good husbands, and 

 long lives of honey-moons. 



